The Employing
by Derbs92
Summary: AU 8 years in the future. Chloe is getting her first job. How will she like working for Derek? A HR reps worst nightmare. Cherek.
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place in an AU. No super powers for our heros here. Unless you count hotness on Derek's part. Everyone is about 7 or 8 years older than they are in the books.**

**I don't own darkest powers.**

I looked up at the big building and my stomach churned. I didn't know if I would have been better off if I'd eaten anything for breakfast. Maybe something in my stomach would help settle it. My stomach gave another panicked clench. Nope if I had eaten anything it probably would have come up. Wouldn't that make the best impression on my potential employers?

This was a unique opportunity and I'd do anything not to blow it. I was a new college graduate with a degree less marketable than English or sociology. I went to school for screen writing, but it's not really an occupation where jobs grow on trees. It's a lot of hard work and a lot of luck to get your scripts noticed, and though my dad was always willing to help me out I really wanted to do it on my own. In order to do that, I needed a job. One with benefits and a steady paycheck. This one seemed tailor fit to me. It wasn't screen writing but it was as close as you could get in the real world. An up and coming computer game developer was looking for someone to help with story lines for their games.

I squared my shoulders and went in. A quick look at the list of the buildings occupants and I found Design Sorcery was on the thirteenth floor. I know the number thirteen was considered unlucky by most, but in my work I focused on horror. To me it seemed like a good omen. I looked at my watch. I had ten minutes before the interview. I forced myself to wait three minutes before going upstairs. Obviously you should never be late for an interview, but I'd read that being too early gave a bad impression also. Five minutes before the interview seemed to be the ideal time according to the blogs I'd read. I took another deep breath and headed over to the bank of elevators.

I was concentrating on where I was going and my nerves were only letting me think about one thing at a time. I didn't notice the man barreling in the same direction until it was too late. Thinking back, I don't know how I did miss him. He was huge. Well over six feet tall, bulky and carrying a stack of boxes with things sticking out every way. He obviously didn't see me. He probably couldn't. Even in my three inch interview heels, I barely topped five feet, and the stack of boxes was piled high. It probably cut off all of his periphery vision.

I tried to avert my path at the last minute, but I've never been what one would consider graceful. And while my shoes were hot hot hot, they weren't exactly styled with traction in mind. One foot slipped out from underneath me and the other one kept going in the same direction it was originally headed. I'd just made my self a larger target. Much harder to miss. The crash was inevitable.

I landed on the floor surrounded by the boxes. Two of them burst open and there were small mechanical parts everywhere. Only the man remain standing.

He swore viciously. Under his dark messy hair his face was growing red. That made the bright green eyes that were glaring at me stand out even more. "Why don't you watch where you're going?"

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-"

He cut me off "Save it." He crouched down and started picking up parts and putting them back into boxes. I took a quick survey of myself. The skirt of my suit was hiked up to mid-thigh. A huge run in my nylons started just under my knee and disappeared beneath my skirt. I could feel half of my super fine hair had fallen from the french twist I had it in. I had a suspicious looking grease spot smeared across my jacket. This one confused me. The glass and marble lobby of the building looked spotless. I glanced back over at my attacker. Yep. Found the source of the grease. He was wearing torn jeans and a big t-shirt covered in what looked like greased hand streaks. I looked at the competent hands snatching up different pieces. The fingertips were all smudged black with grease.

I stood up, and immediately crouched back down to help pick up the pieces. He glared at me again. "Just leave them. I think you've done enough damage."

I started to stammer out another apology, but it was obvious by the way he was ignoring me he didn't want to hear it. So I gave up. I glanced at my watch again. Crap. The interview was in three minutes.

I carefully picked my way out of the mess of parts on the floor, and walked back over to the elevator. I pushed the button to go up, and got in as soon as the doors opened. The last thing I saw before the doors slid shut was one final glare from the man picking his parts up off the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to the reviewers. I love getting them.**

**I don't own Darkest Powers - or any of the characters therein.**

Luckily I had the elevator to myself. I slipped off my shoes, quick whipped off my nylons and stuffed them in my purse. Thank god it was summer. At least my legs were freshly shaved and had a bit of a tan to them. They didn't look terrible without nylons, though it seemed a bit casual for a job interview to me. Next went the jacket. I folded it over one arm, but as soon as I stepped off the elevator it'd be going in the nearest garbage can. It was one of my favorites, but it was silk and I'm pretty sure even the best dry cleaner would never get the grease off of it. The cami I'd worn underneath it would have to do. I hoped my bra straps weren't too noticeable.

Now what to do with my hair? I'd have to wear it down. I didn't have time to get it back into the immaculate french twist. Shoot. I'd forgotten I'd lacquered it with hairspray. Down didn't look so great either. I dug in my bag until I'd found a pony tail holder and tossed it up into a slightly messy ponytail.

The elevators weren't mirrored, but I had a fairly good idea what I'd look like. Gone was the sophisticated career woman who'd left her apartment this morning. In her place was a girl who barely looked old enough to drive.

I know there was no point in stewing about it, but I couldn't help but think if it hadn't been for that guy in the lobby . . . By the time I got up to the thirteenth floor I wasn't worried about the interview any more. Instead I was fuming over what had happened. I was so angry the fire in my stomach must have incinerated the butterflies. Why was that guy such a jerk? It was just as much his fault as mine. More maybe, At least I tried to get out of the way. If he'd had been able to see me the accident could have been avoided.

The elevator opened to a hallway. Directly across from me was a sign that indicated the company was to the left and I stalked down the hall until I saw a door with a "Design Sorcery" posted prominently next to it. Underneath it was a small sign instructing me to ring a doorbell and enter when the buzzer sounded. I stepped into a small vestibule with a desk and a couple of waiting chairs. There was no one sitting at the desk, and I was unsure of what to do next.

There was a garbage can in the corner and I threw away my jacket with a sigh. I didn't know if I should sit or remain standing. I hovered in the room for what felt like eternity but was probably only thirty seconds and my temper cooled somewhat. The butterflies still didn't come back. That was a nice surprise. Then a door behind the desk opened and a very attractive Asian man stepped out. He was tall and lean with a confident smile. "Hi. You must be Chloe, I'm Simon" and he stuck out his hand for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you." I replied.

"Sorry about the wait." He gestured for me to go through the door into an open space filled with cubicles. "We're kind of a fledgling company, but we bought the space with the intention of expansion. We don't actually have a front desk person. I was on my way as soon as the doorbell rang, but my partner called. Apparently something happened, and he's going to be a little late for the interview."

"Oh, no problem."

As I walked with him through the almost empty maze of cubicles, I noticed he was wearing jeans and a casual plaid button down. Looking around at the few other employees that were there I could tell this company had a very lax dress code. Jeans and t-shirts dominated, but I saw at least one pair of pajama pants. I would have really stuck out in my suit coat and bun. I was almost glad for the incident in the lobby now. I still looked professional, but I didn't look like a stick in the mud.

Simon escorted me into a conference room that was dominated by a large table. He gestured for me to sit, and then took the chair opposite me.

"So . . . How are you at small talk?"

"Excuse me?"

"We can just visit a little until he gets here. I'm a terrible note taker and if I ask you the hard interview questions while he's not here, he's going to want to know the smallest detail about the answer." He gave me a self depreciating smile. "I'm just not up to that at nine in the morning."

"Um ok . . so . . .uh . . . It's really nice outside."

He broke the tension with a warm laugh "When in doubt talk about the weather. I'm glad the sun is finally shining, I was getting sick of all of that rain. I'd like to get down to the courts to pick up a game."

"Tennis?"

"No, basketball."

"Ah."

Just then his phone beeped. He gave me an apologetic look and quick checked the text. "Huh, Derek says he'll be five more minutes, he's going to take a quick shower."

"Shower?"

"Yeah. Like I said we got the space with the idea of expanding some day. It was a super awesome deal. The company it used to belong to was big into corporate fitness, so they installed a small gym and showers. It comes in really handy. Sometimes with projects we've been known to have to pull all-nighters. We even had enough space to put in what we call our nap room. Everyone's got their own locker with a sleep mat and room to store personal stuff."

"That's really cool." I laughed a little, "I thought my all-nighters were done when I finished school."

Simon laughed again "So did I, but it comes with the territory."

We started swapping stories comparing our all-night college experiences against each other's and then moved on to stories we'd heard from friends. I felt totally relaxed in his company. He was witty and charming. This was feeling less and less like an interview and more like a first date. We were both laughing at his impression of one of his old roommates trying to tie his shoelaces after a heavy night involving both pot of coffee and a case of Red Bull when the jerk from the lobby strode into the room.

He glanced in my direction and did a double take. His eyes narrow slightly in disapproval then he turned to Simon.

"Are you done flirting?"

Simon took this in stride. This must be the guy's usual personality.

"I-I-I-" I swallowed. "I didn't see you there."

Simon rolled his eyes "We're still teaching him manners. Derek, Chloe. Chloe, my partner, Derek."

"Partner?" I croaked.

"Yes. The deciding partner." He gave me a look that clearly said what his decision concerning me was going to be.

The butterflies came back full force.


	3. Chapter 3

**Still no ownership of DP for me.**

I expected the interview to be over at that point, but I guess Derek wanted to squeeze every ounce of humiliation out of me. He sat down next to Simon across from me. "What have you gone over so far? Besides your mime act."

Simon said "Actually that's about it. We were waiting for you. What in the world took you so long? Did you bring the prototype?"

"I did," Another big glare at me "but I'm going to have one more rebuild before the testing starts."

"Really? Shoot. I thought you told me last night that you had it done. I really wanted to see it in action."

"Yes. Well. I guess you'll have to learn to live with disappointments." He looked at me again. "Have you found that to be the case Ms. Saunders? Lots of disappointments around you?"

"Uh …"

"Ignore him. He's really grumpy until you get to know him. And then, well actually he's still pretty grumpy."

Derek growled "Still in the room. And I'm not really grumpy. And she can't ignore me. I'm doing her interview."

"Pfth - I'll do the interview, you'll scare her. You just sit there and listen. Oh and take notes while you're at it." He turned to look at me. "So tell me about your education. Film studies was it?"

Was this what working with these two would be like? This strange bickering? It surprised me that two men who were obviously so different could be partners. But maybe that was the point. Their strengths complimented the others weaknesses. Derek obviously had no social skill, and Simon seemed to be in the running for Mr. Congeniality. I got the feeling that Derek was the figuring and technical part of the operation while Simon ran the creative side.

They were both good looking in different ways. Simon had the exotic thing going for him. That combined with his charm certainly must have girls flocking towards him. Derek was more subtlety handsome. Not someone you'd notice across a room and think _wow_, but intriguing in his own way. He had really nice eyes - when they weren't flaying you in his death-ray glare. Which I'm sure kept all the girls flocking away.

The interview started with me answering different questions about my school. Then I showed them some script writing I'd done as well as the storyboards I'd used for my senior project. Simon seemed impressed. Derek seemed indifferent. Every time I glanced at him I asked myself why I was even going along with this farce of an interview. He made up his mind he didn't want to hire me the moment he recognized me as the girl from the lobby.

"Okay, I'm sure you're getting sick of the fifth degree. Last question." said Simon "Give us an example of something in your life that was very challenging and why."

"My senior project was the most difficult. It took many hours of work to get it set up and film. I was basically the producer as well as the director of the film, and since everyone else was doing it on a volunteer basis, I had to work around all of their schedules. Trying to keep shooting on time was a real challenge, and I'm very proud of how it turned out."

Derek gave an unimpressed sounding snort. Then he asked his first question since Simon had said he was going to lead the interview, "How did you juggle that with your job?"

I was taken off guard, "My job?"

"You know the people who were paying you to do things for them." God he was so smug.

Argh. I'd kind of been hoping to avoid this question. The answer just sounded bad. I tried not to lead a spoiled life, but this was the one thing my dad was insistent on. If he was paying for school, I wasn't allowed to work. He wanted me to concentrate on my studies. "I didn't have a job at the time. Being a student was my full time job."

"Oh, you're one of those." The scorn dripped from his words. "Tell me, have you ever had a job in your life? One that pays? And don't count babysitting."

"Yes. I worked in an office every summer since I was fifteen."

"Fifteen really?" His eyebrows rose "That's a bit young for an office worker. And office work doesn't seem to fit your career path. Tell me, did your dad know the owner?"

My dad was the owner, but I wasn't about to tell him that. It made it sound like the only reason I'd worked there at all was because of him. Maybe that's how I got the job in the first place, but I kept it because of my skills. They brought me back summer after summer because I was a good employee. I ran the whole office smoothly.

I didn't say anything, but I'm sure he knew.

He gave me a triumphant look. "You've never had to work for anything have you?"

Simon butted in "You're being a bit harsh, aren't you bro?"

"We need to know she can handle pressure. As much as you like her previous work and story boards, we really have no idea how long it took her to do them. What if she writes something we decide to go with and find out half way through there's a design flaw. We might have to start from scratch and we wouldn't have months for rewrites. It needs to be done as quickly as possible. Also, she's only had a summer job, and in college classes change what? Every three or four months? This girl has no idea what commitment is."

I blurted "I'm a big sister, I have a little sister."

"Well good for you. I'm sure mom and dad are real proud of their princesses."

"No. I'm an only child and my mom's dead. I mean I volunteer. You know, boy and girls club. I've been working with Rae for 4 years. I started volunteering in high school because I knew it would look good on my resume. But when I realized how much these kids needed, and how much I have to give, I stayed with it. It started with tutoring, but I realized these kids needed help beyond school. Once I was old enough, I went through the vetting process to become a big sister. They're really particular about who they take, and you have to commit to a long period of time. They don't want people who will be one more disappointment in these kids' lives." I directly at Derek "I know what commitment is."

Something flickered in Derek's eyes during my impassioned speech but it went to fast for me to identify. The smug look was gone, replaced by the neutral expression he'd worn during the rest of the interview.

Simon cleared his throat. "Very commendable of you. Well I think we have all we need. I'd like to-"

Derek cut him off "Simon, can I have a word with you outside for a moment?"

They stepped outside the room and I could hear a heated discussion. There voices were too low for me to make out exactly what they were saying, but I heard words here and there . . . prissy. . . chance . . . pampered . . . try . . .

Their voices were growing louder as they continued to fight. I heard Derek hiss. "Just because she has nice legs and a pretty face doesn't mean we should hire her."

"I like her work. That's why we should hire her. The face and legs are a bonus."

"If you want to take a chance on a spoiled princess, fine. Go right ahead. But don't come crying to me when things don't work out. She's your responsibility."

Simon stepped back in without Derek. His face was red, but he appeared in control. He gave me one of his dazzling grins. "So when can you start?"


	4. Chapter 4

**I feel like I'm on a roll. Each chapter is a little longer & hopefully a little more interesting. Thanks for the reviews! **

**I'm not KA.**

* * *

The following Monday I locked up my small loft apartment and headed to my new job.

My dad knew the owner of the building. He'd had an opening and held the apartment for me when he heard I was applying for a job downtown. Once I'd accepted the job I signed the lease and my dad, my aunt and I spent the rest of the week moving stuff. As an additional favor he'd let me have the apartment at the previous owner's rent-controlled price. Since she'd lived there for over 10 years, it was a pretty sweet deal. As much as I wanted to make it on my own, I wasn't stupid; I knew when to accept a favor. The rent was still going to be almost half of my take home pay but at least now I didn't have to get a car or pay for parking.

The apartment was really really tiny, but so am I. I fit just fine. It had a kitchenette along one wall with the smallest oven you'd ever seen, a full bath, and a surprisingly large closet. I think I could have fit a bed in there, but it didn't have any windows, and I'm claustrophobic. Instead I got a futon. The apartment was actually bigger than my dorm room or my bedroom at home. The high ceilings and large windows that lined two sides gave it an airy, sunny feel that I loved.

I continued the ritual from my youth of running down the stairs. I was on the fifth floor now and that wasn't so hard. I lived 4 blocks from work and I thoroughly enjoyed the early summer morning on the way there.

I debated about taking the stairs up to the thirteenth floor, but I didn't want to arrive sweaty and out of breath on my first day. I rode the elevator and waited to be buzzed in.

Simon greeted me with a warm smile and a badge. "It's great to see you. I can tell we're really going to enjoy working together."

He showed me around the office. Pointing out the bathrooms and showing me the gym. "Other than when we have meetings scheduled, you're welcome to use it at any time. Derek feels he does his best thinking working out, so he's in here on and off during the day."

Next came the nap room where he showed me my locker. It was probably two feet wide and had a ton of lockable storage space. A mat was folded neatly on the bottom shelf. Then we went to the break room. "We have a fridge and microwaves. Did you bring a lunch today?"

I wasn't sure what to expect, so I hadn't "Um no, I didn't."

"Do you want to go with me? There's a great sandwich place nearby" he offered. "I can show you where all the good restaurants are around here."

"That sounds really good. Thanks."

Then Simon showed me my desk and helped me log into my computer. "You'll have to change all of your temporary passwords. Get settled in and make yourself at home. We're going to have a staff meeting in about . . ." He glanced at his watch "ten minutes. We'll do some introductions and catch you up on what we were working on." He gave me another charming smile "I'll come back and grab you for it."

He strode off and left me. I did a cursory drawer search. It had some really basic supplies in it. A couple of pens and pencils, a stapler and tape. I put my purse in one of the drawers and looked at the computer systems they were working with. Good. Most of them I'd used in the past.

True to his word, Simon came back and led me to the conference room I'd had my interview in. There were nine people in there including me. "Everyone this is Chole, she'll be doing our story writing for us. Chloe, this is everybody." He prattled off a list of names and jobs for everyone at the table. I barely caught any of it. The only one I did notice was a girl named Tori with short dark hair. She was kind of hard to miss since she was glaring at me like I'd just killed her cat. "And you know Derek." Simon finished up.

Derek grumbled "Enough hand holding, let's get to work." I didn't think introducing co-workers was really hand holding, but he had it in his mind to dislike me. Whatever. I'm guessing everything involving me was going to annoy him.

He looked at his notes "Alright. We're getting close too the end of the trial runs for "Dangerous" and we're getting ready to start development on our newest game. We're looking at a zombie themed first shooter. Chloe we need you and Simon to get started on the storyboard for it. Simon would you show Chloe some preliminary character sketches?"

Simon took out a large drawing pad and flipped it to a page marked with a post it note. "This is one of the zombies. I-"

"You're Simon Bae?" I interrupted him. I couldn't help it. The moment he showed me his work I knew.

"Uh. Yeah. Didn't I give you my name?" He looked confused.

"The Simon Bae that collaborated with Kelley Armstrong on her Wolfman graphic novel?"

He grinned. "Yes I am. You know my work?"

"Wow. I'm really impressed. We studied Wolfman in our story board class." I knew I was kind of babbling but I couldn't help it. Imagine meeting no working with someone whose work you'd admired for a long time. "Graphic novels work the same way, you get the point of the story across with minimal explanations. One panel conveys emotion, dialog and action that many pages of a book or many minutes of a movie do. You're good. Like really good."

He got something of a smug smile on his face. "Thank you, it's always nice to have my talent appreciated."

The crabby girl gave an impatient huff and rolled her eyes. "His ego doesn't need any more stroking. Can we get on with this?"

"Wait." With the revelation that Simon was the illustrator my brain started making all sorts of connections. "You're the witch right? The evil one who's selfish and kills anyone who gets in her way."

Her face got really red and she turned to glare at Simon. "You asshole. I told you and Dad people would recognize me from that stupid book." Whoa. Dad? Now that I looked more closely at them together, I guess I could see the relationship.

"Can I help it if I draw from my own experiences for my characters? I needed a true bitch and lucky for me I only had to look across the dinner table."

"Here we go," Derek grumbled as they started shrieking across the table at each other. I looked at him.

"Are you the Wolfman?" A tragic misunderstood loner. After being bitten by a rogue werewolf he was cursed with a monthly transformation that came with super-human powers. Before he had time to acclimate himself to his new strength, he accidentally broke the back of his best friend. In penance, he condemned himself to vigilante crime fighting but would let no one close to him. He led a life of solitude. A very dark and romantic character that had a massive cult following. Though fans of graphic novels tended to be male, a surprising number of teen girls were really into the brooding hero.

Derek growled "I can see the wheels turning in your head. He isn't based on me. Yes he looks like me, but Simon just needed someone big and athletic to model him after. Don't read anything else into it." I wasn't sure about that. He did have a sullen predator look to him. I wondered if deep down he was as poetically sensitive as the werewolf. I wasn't holding my breath.

"How about the telekinetic?" I asked referring to the heroine of the book. She was beauty and grace personified, and helped the werewolf survive being hunted. I would like to see who Simon modeled her after. "Does she work here too?"

There was a sudden uncomfortable silence. Most of the staff was looking at Simon with something I could only call pity. Simon was unusually reserved and staring at his shoes. Derek gave him a look of concern.

Tori gave Simon a really dirty look and then turned her glare to me. Her voice dripped venom. "No she doesn't."

Shoot. I really stepped in it. I had no idea what I'd stepped in, but it was knee deep. Derek was my unlikely savior.

"As I was saying, we're looking at a first person shooter game with zombies. Chloe you have anything off the top of your head for that?" From unlikely savior to saboteur in two sentences.

"Zombies?" Derek raised one eyebrow at me. I took this as a challenge. I racked my brain, might as well go for broke. "Are you sure you'd want to go with zombies?"

"What are you talking about? Zombies are awesome. Look at Resident Evil and Doom. They rocked the computer industry." Simon said excitedly.

"Right look at _them_. Pardon the pun, but hasn't battling zombies been done to death?"

Simon looked disappointed. "I've already done like twenty characters."

"Well maybe we don't have to get rid of them all together."

Derek looked intrigued "What do you suggest?"

"What if the zombie was the good guy?"

"Because everyone really wants to play a rotting body." Tori snorted "What? Instead of having a health bar random pieces of flesh fall off until you don't have anything left to fight with? No one is going to want to be a hero that falls apart."

Argh. I didn't have all the answers. It was just a suggestion. "Ok. What about someone who controls the zombies? Maybe a voodoo priest."

Derek interjected "Too inflammatory." He thought for a minute "How about a necromancer?"

Simon looked shocked "Dude. That's gross."

"Get your mind out of the gutter." Tori spat at her brother "It just means someone that can control the dead."

"Oh. Well that would be kind of cool. Do you think you could control whole armies of undead? I could come up with some wicked weapons."

Derek looked at Simon. "Why don't you and Chloe work together on a rough plot line? Show her what you've already got and what you'd like to work with. We'll get together soon to see if it's going to be viable. Welcome to the team Chloe."


	5. Chapter 5

**Still not Kelley Armstrong.**

* * *

The first week of work was fairly uneventful. Simon and I came up with a workable story line that Derek approved. I was writing out script ideas and Simon was doing story panels. We worked well together. We also had lunch every day that first week. They were working lunches. We went, we ate, we mostly talked plot lines. I paid for myself everyday. They were not dates. I got the impression that while Simon enjoyed flirting with me, his heart wasn't really in it.

Friday afternoon Tori stopping by my desk. She'd been cold to me all week. I tried to befriend her, but every attempt was rebuffed.

She gave me a half hearted smile, "I want to bury the hatchet. Would you like to come out with me for a drink tonight? My treat."

To say I surprised was an understatement. "I'm not sure. I'm not much of a drinker and I've got a lot to do."

Her look became stony "Fine. I was just trying to be friendly. I'll keep my invitations to myself from now on." She turned on her heel and walked through the maze to the exit.

I hesitated. I really didn't want to go out, but I didn't want to lose my chance with her. I grabbed my purse and chased her down "Wait. I'll come."

The bar wasn't far from the office, half way between that and my house. Coming in from the bright sunshine I couldn't see anything. If the bar had windows they were blacked out. Most of the weak lighting seemed to be provided by neon beer signs. There were a couple light fixtures over the pool tables and there was a naked bulb over the cash register at the back of the bar. Once my eyes adjusted I could see that Tori and I really stuck out. We were a good ten years younger than the rest of the patrons, and neither of us was wearing work boots. The place itself was dirty and seedy. I would have thought Tori more of an upscale drinker, but she insisted this was the bar she wanted to go to.

She herded me towards the back and we found a open booth in the corner. The vinyl seat was cracked and mended with duct tape, and the table was sticky. "Are you sure about this Tori? I'm not really comfortable here."

"Oh grow up and stop being such a baby. What do you want to drink? I'll go get it."

I sighed. I'd have one drink and then I was out the door. "I guess a vanilla vodka coke. Thanks."

She left the booth and went to stand at the bar. I looked around some more. A couple of guys were playing darts and it looked like a few others were playing pool for money. There was a couple fifty dollar bills sitting on the edge of the table.

She came back. "They didn't have any vanilla vodka, so I got you a whiskey coke." I took a sip and started coughing.

She looked at me and laughed "You really are a baby. You don't sip whiskey you drink it." I forced myself to take a big drink. She was watching me closely, but didn't talk. I guess it was up to me.

"So, how long have you been working with Derek and Simon?"

She sighed like she was annoyed. "We opened the company about a year and a half ago. I've got a degree in computer programming and I'm really good at it."

She kept talking but I had a hard time following her words. I started to feel a little dizzy and had trouble focusing.

Tori was snapping her fingers in front of my face "Chloe. Chloe. I'm talking to you. Are you listening?"

"What sorry, I seem to be spacing off. . ."

She looked in my eyes, but I couldn't focus on her. I never got drunk so fast. I'd only had two swallows of the drink.

She gave me a self satisfied smile. "That'll do. I'm off. Have fun." She turned towards the door. I grabbed at her arm, and snagged her sleeve.

"Wait, you can't just leave me here." I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. She was leaving? How was I going to get home?

"You still don't get it do you? Just because Liz quit and you came in does not mean you are replacing her. You will never take her place in the company, you will never take her place in my brother's life, and you're sure as hell not going to take her place in my life." She glared at me "You've got Simon all worked up trying to impress you. I'll tell you one more time bitch, leave my brother alone. He's Liz's so just back off."

She left me there in the bar.

I knew I needed to get out. I picked up my purse, but then sat down again. What was I doing? Oh yeah leaving. I stood up again. Now where was my purse?

A scruffy guy came over to my table. "Hello cutie. I haven't seen you here before. What's your name?" He had a slight southern accent and longish blond hair.

I tried to focus on him, but I just couldn't seem to get my eyes to work. "Chloe, but I was just leaving."

"No, no stay." He gave me a slow smile "Let me buy you a drink. My names Liam"

"That's ok. I think I've had enough. I really should go."

"Oh, but Chloe, you haven't met my friend yet." He gestured behind me. "This is Ramon. You can't leave now, that wouldn't be very friendly of you. I think you should stay. I know we're going to have a real good time."

I knew I should leave. I should get up and walk away, but my brain had stopped working I had no idea how to do that. Liam slid into the booth next to me and started petting my hair. I knew I didn't like it, but other than that I couldn't do anything. What was wrong with me?

"I'll tell you what, I really like pretty young girls, and so does my friend here. Let's say all three of us go to the back room. I've got something to show you Chloe." He took my hand and placed it on his crotch. I tried to jerk it away, but he was holding it to tight. I started to panic. What should I do? What could I do?

"Let her go." Oh. Good. Derek. He'll make it better.

"What's it to you?" Why wasn't this guy doing what Derek said. Everybody did what Derek said. Otherwise he'd give you the scary eyebrows. I peeked around Liam at Derek. Yup, scary eyebrows were out in full force.

"She's my girlfriend. Now back off." I was his girlfriend? I didn't remember that happening. Hrm. I'd think if we were boyfriend/girlfriend I would have known it. I'm surprised I'd be going out with a guy with such scary eyebrows. I opened my mouth to correct him, when he shot the scary eyebrows at me. I closed my mouth again.

"She was sitting her all by herself when I found her. She looked lonely." I don't think that was right at all. Why would I be sitting by myself when I have such a hot boyfriend? Why would I be in this bar in the first place. It was really icky.

"I had to work late, but I'm here now. Back off." Derek's face was really red. He should watch his blood pressure.

Liam put his hands up waist high and slid out of the booth. "Ok ok, I'm leaving. I didn't know I was treading on your territory. I don't want to cause any trouble."

As soon as he was gone Derek grabbed my hand. "Come on, we're leaving."

"Ooooo where are we going? Do we have a date planned? I'd like to go sing karaoke." Derek looked at me questioningly, but continued to hustle me out of the bar.

"Where do you live?"

I gave him my address. "Some boyfriend you are if you don't even know where I live."

"Chloe, I'm not your boyfriend. I just told them that so they'd back off."

My mind slowly processed that. "That's too bad. You're really hot. I bet you're a good kisser. We should find out when we get back to my place. Then maybe you will be my boyfriend." I smiled at the cleverness of my plan.

He looked at me incredulously, "You're drunk."

I happily chirped. "No I'm not. I only had two drinks."

"Chloe, you're tiny I'm sure it doesn't take a whole lot to get you drunk, and you were only there for a half hour. Two drinks in a half hour is quite a bit for anyone."

I puzzled on this. "No. I had two drinks. Like two swallows. Well it was more like a sip and then one swallow. Anyway, it wasn't very much."

"Well regardless of how much you've actually had to drink, you're acting drunk."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Oh. My. God. I just remembered."

"What? Did something else happen? Should I take you to the hospital? Was I too late? Should I go beat the shit out of those two?"

"What? No. Why would you do that?"

"You just stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and said 'oh my god' like it was the end of the world. What did you remember?"

I laughed. "Dude, you're totally that smexy werewolf. You just saved me from evil. You said it wasn't you, but it was. Are you really hairy?" I lifted up his shirt to look underneath it. Nope. No hair. Mmmmmmm he had a really nice tummy. I licked it to see what it tasted like.

"Shit. Chloe cut it out." He ripped his shirt out of my hands and pulled it down over his stomach.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Spoilsport."

"Let's just get you home, ok?" He grabbed one of my arms and hauled me down the street to my building. He didn't let go until we were at my front door.

"Are we going to try kissing now?"

"No." He opened the door and pushed me inside. "Once I leave, do you promise to lock the door behind me and go to bed."

I shook my head "I want to sing karaoke. I thought we were going to go out for karaoke."

He sighed. "Do you have any movies to watch?"

"Movies, I have tons of movies. What do you want to see? Should we watch a werewolf one? Then maybe you'll know what to do during the full moon." I was so proud of this idea. I was helping him just like he was helping me. Maybe then he wouldn't be so angst ridden and alone.

"Whatever, just put something in and sit down. I'll sit with you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for all of the reviews. They make me want to write faster. Trouble is I'm not sure what's going to happen next!**

**My name's not Kelley - won't wear it out.**

* * *

Oh god. Someone put a industrial grade rubber band around my head and it was too tight. Why would someone do that to me? What had I ever done to them? I squinted my eyes against the sunlight that was streaming in my widows. Who had ever thought big windows was a good idea?

I slowly got my bearings. Was this a hangover? I'd never had one before. I wasn't lying to Tori when I said I wasn't much of a drinker.

My pillow was purring. Oh. That can't be right. I slowly lifted my head to look down at the naked male chest below me. Not purring, snoring.

Oh god. What had happened last night? The last thing I remember was Tori leaving me at the bar. What had I done? Did I even know this guy's name? I lifted my head further.

Oh shit. I did. Derek.

I'd obviously entered a parallel universe. That was the only explanation my poor beleaguered brain could come up with. The headache must have been the side effects of traveling through the worm hole.

Derek didn't even like me. He could barely tolerate being in the same room as me. I started untangling myself from him. I was draped across him like a blanket. My head had been pillowed on his chest, one arm hugged his waist and one of my legs was wrapped around one of his. Maybe I could lock myself in my closet and hide until he left. This seemed like a viable option.

I'd just gotten unvelcroed from him and was inching my way off the edge of the futon when a hand reached out and grabbed my wrist. I jerked my head up to look at his face, but the movement proved to be too much for me. I groaned in pain and dropped my head back to the mattress.

Derek gave a low grumbly chuckle. "Mornin'."

I grunted.

He chuckled again. "I've got some aspirin and water ready for you." He stretched up and reached over the arm of the futon to the end table to grab a big glass of water and two aspirins.

I grunted my thanks and tried to take them. My fingers didn't seem to be working right.

"Here let me help you." He sat up and urged me on to my back. Then supported my head while he lifted the glass of water up to my mouth. The little sip I took seemed to fortify me and I was able to take the two aspirin and the next drink of water by myself.

"What are you doing here?" I steeled myself for humiliation.

He responded with a question of his own "What do you remember?"

I had to think really hard. "Tori asked me to the bar, and I asked her about working with you and Simon, and then it all gets really fuzzy."

Derek was unsurprised "You seemed really drunk."

What had I said to him when my guard was down. Did I even want to know?

"I think I only had the one drink, and actually I didn't have very much of it. I got a whisky coke. I really don't like whisky. I only had one drink of it."

He considered this "Why'd you get whisky if you don't like it?"

"That's what Tori brought back from the bar. She said they didn't have vanilla vodka."

He at me in surprise and then his eyes narrowed. "Wait. _Tori_ got your drinks?"

"Yeah. There didn't seem to be any waitresses there. She offered to buy me a drink and she went up to get it."

"That little bitch." He clenched his teeth so hard, a muscle ticked in the corner of his jaw.

"What?"

"She set you up." He glared at me like it was my fault. "Tori never does anything for anyone else. If she went up to get your drinks, she did it so she could add something to it."

My mind started racing. Tori slipped me a ruffie? Why? What did I ever do to her? Oh god. I'd heard what happened to girls after they'd been slipped ruffies. I'm sure my fear showed in my face. "What happened?"

His look softened. "When I got to the bar, two men were pawing you. You looked really upset. I made them go away, and then I brought you home."

"Thank you." I said quietly. I thought about what could have happened. He saved me.

Then I thought of another question. "How did you end up at that bar in the first place?"

He seemed a little embarrassed. "I heard Tori asking you out, and I didn't trust her. She's, uh, not one to try to make friends. It took me a couple of bars before I found you."

"Oh." I glanced down at his half naked form and quickly looked back up. "Not to sound ungrateful, but why are you still here?"

"I was going to leave as soon as I dropped you off, but you were acting really strange and you seemed pretty insistent about going to sing karaoke." He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't trust you to stay put after I left. I was just going to stay until you fell asleep, but you started throwing up, and that can be dangerous. You hear about people asphyxiating on their own vomit all the time."

"So we didn't -" I left it hanging. He would know what I was talking about.

"You're still fully dressed, and other than my shirt so am I." He looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Nothing happened."

"Where is your shirt?"

"Remember that part about you vomiting? You had your head on my shoulder the first time."

"Just a second." I weaved my way on unsteady feet to my closet and dug through a drawer until I found an big old t-shirt I used for a pajamas sometimes.

He shook it out and held it in front of himself. It would still be small on him, but it was obvious it would be huge on me. He raised one eyebrow, "Old boyfriend's?"

I blushed. "No it's a souvenir my dad brought back for me one time. He grabbed it in the airport and didn't notice the size. I didn't mind. I just used it for sleeping."

He grunted and slipped it on. It was small, but it was old and the material was thin. It stretched across him like a second skin. It was almost as distracting as his naked chest. I can't believe I ever thought he was husky.

Little fuzzy pieces of the night before brushed through my mind sporadically setting off new questions. "Right before Tori left, she told me I wasn't going to take Liz's place, and I should stop trying. Who is Liz?"

Derek hesitated for a bit before he said anything, "Liz is - was Tori's best friend growing up. When we started the company she came on with us. She wasn't a partner, and she didn't have any real computing skills, but we all wanted her there. She started out as our office assistant. She ordered supplies, set up meetings with buyers, kept track of our billing. All of that sort of stuff. She was really good at it too. She expanded her roll to be our liaison between us and our clients. If you haven't noticed, Simon is an excellent salesman, but he's horrible on the follow though. His mind isn't detail orientated. Mine is, but I couldn't sell a heater to an Eskimo. Tori doesn't have the patience for any of it. Together Simon and I are muddling through it, but Liz was able to do it all."

Derek shifted uncomfortably, "She got, uh, burnt out I guess, and decided she needed a break. She had an opportunity to teach English in Japan, and she went. Tori took it personally and felt like Liz was abandoning her. She been more of a bitch than usual since.

"She told me to stay away from Simon too. That he was Liz's." It's not that I was trying to clear a path to Simon, I was just trying to figure out where I stood.

He snapped at me "They never went out."

"Oh ok." There was a long awkward pause. I wondered if he'd be leaving now. I didn't want him to go. He made me feel safe after a really unsettling night. "Can I offer you breakfast?"

"Chloe, you have nothing to eat. I raided your cupboards last night for dinner. I ate the last of your bread and most of your peanut butter. Your fridge is basically empty." Another pause. "I should get going. What are you going to do about Tori?"

I thought about it. "Nothing."

He seemed incredulous "Nothing? She drugged you."

"We have no proof, and I wouldn't go to the police anyway."

He looked at me with serious eyes "Are you going to quit?"

"What?" I let my annoyance show in my voice "And let her win? No."

"Good" he gave a sharp nod to his head for emphasis "Well I'm not going to let her get away with it. She can't do stuff like that. I'll talk with her on Monday."

He left and gave me the rest of the weekend to think about what else happened Friday night that he didn't tell me about.

* * *

Derek had the four of us gathered in the conference room first thing Monday morning. I was terribly uncomfortable as he detailed the events of Friday night to Simon.

"My god, you make me sound like a monster. I just put something in her drink so she'd have a massive hangover the next day. It wasn't that big of a deal." Tori retaliated.

"You left her alone in that place," Derek blew up at her "and that's all you were you expecting to happen? She was basically defenseless. I wasn't even sure she knew who I was when I first got there. She could have been robbed or raped or killed."

I could tell by the look on her face that she hadn't thought of that. I jumped in before Derek could "I don't think she meant me any real harm."

"I don't care if she meant it or not. Those things could have happened."

"But they didn't. You came and I was ok."

"What if I'm not around the next time? What then?"

"I'm sure she wouldn't -"

Tori interrupted me "I don't need you defending me." Then she glared at Derek "There won't be a next time. I made a mistake."

'You're right there won't be a next time." He turned to Simon "She has got to go. She's psycho."

Simon looked miserable "She is one of the founders of the company, she's a co-owner and a damn good designer. We can't afford to buy her out. Besides which she's my sister. Do you know how uncomfortable Christmas would be if we fired her?" He sighed. "But if she's a threat to Chloe. . ."

"Fine. Take her side. Apparently sperm is thicker than blood." She opened her eyes really wide and pretended to pout. "Poor pathetic Chloe. Needs all the boys to protect her, and they all jump in to do it."

I said "I think she should stay."

Derek huffed "I think she should go."

"Simon's right. She's the best programmer you have. She makes you the company you are."

Derek's jaw ticked again. "Fine she stays on three conditions."

Tori tried to feign indifference "Which are?"

"One get over Liz. She left us, not the other way around."

"But she only left because Simon -"

"I don't care why she left. The point is she's gone."

"Fine."

"Two. Get over Chloe. She hasn't done anything. She is completely innocent in all of this. She isn't trying to take anyone's place. She's just trying to do her job."

"Done. It was a waste of my time to acknowledge her presence in the first place."

"Three. Get over yourself."

* * *

**R&R :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**This is a total filler chapter. I'm sorry. I'm making this up as I go along. I feel like I need a transtion to the next part of stuff and this is what I came up with. Kind of necessary, but kind of boring. sorry sorry sorry. Hopefully the next chapter will make it up to you. Please r&r anyway.**

**I'm not KA.**

* * *

I'd like to say that after that Derek was my new best friend, he and Simon and I hung out like the three musketeers, but the next couple of weeks of work weren't that much different from the first week.

I did talk to Derek more often. I don't think he went out of his way to talk to me, but he no longer looked through me if we met in the hall. On occasion he'd stick his head into my cube to bark a question or clarification at me. Simon and I continued to work on the storyboard for the new game. Tori, thankfully, ignored me.

At the beginning of my fourth week there, I decided to try out the gym. I was stuck on a plot point, and I thought maybe being physically active would help my brain kick in. I went at ten, I thought there wouldn't be too many other people there at the time. After getting changed I walked in. I heard the pounding on the treadmill the moment I stepped in. It was Derek. He must have been there for a while, his hair was plastered with sweat. I took a moment to admire the view, and then I made my way over to the eclipse machine next to him.

"Hey" I greeted him.

He nodded his head in acknowledgement and kept running. I hopped up on the machine and got started.

He pressed a button and the treadmill slowed. He started doing his cool down. After he'd gotten his breath back he looked at me. "What brings you here?"

I didn't know if I dared tell him I was stuck. He was the one who didn't think I could handle pressure. "I heard it was a good place to think." I said evasively.

"What about?"

I sighed. He'd been playing video games a lot longer than I had, and probably would know the solution off the top of his head. "I'm stuck."

He nodded like he'd been expecting that, but he didn't seem mad, or disappointed. "Tell me."

"We'll you know that Simon really liked the idea of zombies with supernatural powers? We based the story in a lab where theses evil scientists tried to mess with people's DNA - give them super human strength and stuff. A lot of people got the power, but then they'd die. Except for this necromancer. He could control the dead. So he stared raising the bodies of the people they'd killed to help him get out, but I'm not sure how to make it video game ready. Don't you usually have to lead up to certain powers in video games?"

"Yeah." he grunted "That's usually how it works." He was silent for a while, thinking. "What if you gave him some sort of talisman or focusing tool. Maybe it's something he has to find in the clinic before he can get out." Another pause "Did you ever play Zelda?"

"No."

"You get a sword right away in the beginning, but then throughout the game you get stronger swords, they give you more power." I could see where he was going with this. "What do you think a necromancer would need?"

I was glad I knew a possible answer to this one "Well I did some research on it, and it sounds like a lot of tools of the trade involve pieces of dead bodies, but I think that's kind of gross. I did see a few mentions of amulets. What about that?"

"Yeah. That'd be cool, but I think it would be dumb to keep finding necklaces lying around. How about you just have one, and as you get more powerful it changes colors. Like someone working their way up to a black belt."

I smiled. That was a totally workable idea. "Thank you. I feel like you helped me break through my writer's block."

"No problem." At this Derek stepped off the treadmill, cool down done, and left.

The next day I went to the gym at nine. I tried to tell myself it was because exercising earlier in the day helped my metabolism, but I wasn't very good at lying, even to myself. I was hoping to see Derek again, for longer this time. Catch him at the beginning of his work out, not the end.

The gym was empty. I swallowed my disappointment and went to the eclipse machine to put in my time.

As I was leaving, Derek walked in. I glanced at the clock. Ten. Did he do it on purpose? Was he hoping to catch me during my work out time?

"All done?"

"Yep. Just headed out."

"See you."

That scintillating conversation told me nothing. I cleaned up and went back to my desk to work.

The third day I walked into the gym at nine-thirty. If he was working out at nine I'd catch the second half of his workout, if he was hitting the gym at ten, I'd catch the first half. He walked in the door less than a minute after I did.

"You just getting started?" He questioned me.

"Yep, just got here."

We both walked over to the cardio equipment and got on. For a little while the only sounds were the machine, his feet and our heavy breathing, then he spoke "So... Uh... this college you went to, it was a private school that focused on the arts?"

I started telling him about my college experience, but really I wanted to ask about him, find out what made Derek Souza tick.

We talked for almost an hour. A surprisingly easy back and forth that made me even more interested in him.

We were just finishing up when he lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. As he did I had a sudden flashback. Warm skin. Salty taste.

"I licked you." surprise shot the words out of my mouth before my brain had time realize what a bad idea it would be to say anything.

He laughed "Remembered that did you?"

I didn't answer. I could feel all the blood rushing to my face. I must look like a tomato. Lots of little images flitted through my mind. Two men I didn't know pawing me. Derek's look of anger. Me asking if he was my boyfriend. Telling him how hot he was. Asking him to kiss me. Him holding back my hair as I threw up.

Oh god. I was mortified. "I-I-I'm s-s-sor-"

He cut off my stammered apology "Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. If I was going to be upset with anyone it'd be Tori, and I already went there." A pause and then he looked at me with concern. "Is she leaving you alone?"

"That is an understatement. She hasn't said one word to me since that Monday."

"Do you want me to talk to her?"

I considered it. "No. I think that would make it worse. I'd rather have her pretending I don't exist than a repeat of that night."

"Right." He seemed distracted. His thumb stroking a spot just below his breast bone in a subconscious gesture. As soon as he realized what I was looking at he jerked his hand away and said "Right" again.

"Ok. Well I guess I'll see you later." I walked off to the locker room to take a shower and think about what it all could mean.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok, I'm much happier with this chapter. I feel like it redeems me. I think the last one works - there just wasn't much to it. This one has all the angst. :) I think I've got two or three chapters left.**

**I don't own DP**

* * *

On a Friday morning, towards the end of my second month with the company, Derek summoned us all for a staff meeting. He went over the details of the Dangerous release, talked about a secondary project they were working on and then came to our project.

"I read through the tentative script. I've got to be honest; I'm still having a little trouble seeing it."

I was stunned.

We worked out every day together. While a lot of the talk in the gym was personal, we also talked about work and the story line. I had no idea he didn't like where it was going. I tried to catch his eye to convey my confusion, but he wouldn't look at me.

He continued "The overall idea seems strong, but I'm just not getting a good sense of it with Chloe's writing."

Simon glanced at my face. I'm sure I looked sick. Then he glared at Derek "I don't think you're being fair."

Derek looked thoughtful. "That may be true. Simon, I'm going to need to see the settings and a majority of the characters by the end of next week, or I think we're going to have to scrap the whole plan."

My stomach dropped. The end of next week? If they scrapped it, I don't know how I would start over. Would they even want me to try? Or was this some sort of trial test period. Some big set up to see how I worked under pressure. Was Derek just talking to me every day trying to see how my mind worked? Did Simon have anything done? I'd only seen some of the zombie sketches, none of the main characters or buildings.

I tried to keep my panic under control. The icing on the cake of this meeting didn't need to be me hyperventilating.

"I brought the necromancer with me."

Simon had pulled out a panel. I recognized the point in the script. It was when the necromancer first realized he could control the dead. But Simon hadn't made the necro a man, he made her a girl. He made her me. True, it wasn't an exact replica of me. I looked stronger, more confident, more beautiful. But it was definitely me. A zombie was crawling up my legs and I had my eyes closed in concentration.

Tori spoke up "You made the necromancer a girl?"

"Sure. Why not? I think a girl can pull off those kinds of skills better than a man. If I think of a male necromancer, I picture some creepy undertaker. A guy who looks like Lurch. A girl has much more panache. And besides she's looking for a necklace."

"An amulet." My correction was barely a whisper. I was still in shock at Derek's callousness.

"Sorry. Call it what you want, it's still a necklace with a big ass rock. Girly." Simon gave me a half hearted smile, obviously trying to cheer me up.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Derek gave his opinion on the sketch, "I like it, but she needs bigger boobs, and make her hair dark. More goth like. No ones ever going to believe a prepubescent priss who looks like a cheerleader will control an army of zombies." he paused, gave the picture another look and said "The face is ok."

Derek started gathering the paperwork that was spread out in front of him. "That's all I have. Any questions?"

I had a million questions, but none that I wanted to ask in front of any one else. I stood up quickly and was the first one to leave the room.

Simon called from behind me, "Chloe, wait up."

I walked faster. I had to escape. I didn't want anyone to see my tears. I didn't know where to go. I could hole up in the girls' locker room, but I turned the wrong way out of the conference room, I'd have to cross back in front of it and Derek's office to get there.

All of a sudden, there was someone right next to me barely touching my elbow. "Come on. You can hide in my office." Tori led me away from everyone else, her office being in a remote corner. I guess even true bitches can become your friends when a guy crushes you. She led me into her office and shut the door. "He's an ass. All guys are. I know everybody thinks my brother's the best thing since sliced bread, but he's an ass too. Just ask Liz." She gestured to a picture on her desk.

I took one look at it, and everything fell into place. It was the telekinetic from the graphic novel. The perfect heroine. Liz was who Simon had turned to for inspiration. His ideal. From the way he drew her I knew he was in love with her. If he was anything like his sister, he was taking her absence hard.

"Look, I know Derek threw you under the bus at that meeting, but don't let him get to you." She paused. "I've got to say, I'm really surprised at how that went down. With all the time you guys were spending together, I thought maybe he finally was interested in - never mind." She sighed.

"Derek's a cold bastard. He doesn't give anyone the time of day. Ever. Growing up, he was the bad boy of our school. Everyone was scared of him. I think he was in foster care, I've never met his parents. I even heard that he'd lived on the streets and spent time in juvie. How he and Simon ever became friends in school is beyond me. My dad was a public defender for a while, maybe Derek was one of his clients, and Dad asked Simon to take him under his wing."

"Anyway, Derek's really really smart. He paid for college with scholarships and he's held multiple jobs at one time ever since he was sixteen for living expenses. He's worked for years to rebuild his life, and make sure he'd never have to spend another night in an alley. He hasn't had time to work on his social skills. Outside of Simon and my dad, he doesn't really like anyone. He tolerates me and Liz because we're important to them, but that's about it."

"This company is his next big challenge - his next chance to prove to everyone he can do whatever he puts his mind to, even if he did come from the gutter. He won't let it or us fail. He puts in hundred plus hour weeks every week."

"I'm not telling you all of this to excuse what he did. There's no excuse for that, though I'm sure if we ask Derek he'll have plenty of justification as to why." I glanced at the picture on Tori's desk again, I was pretty sure I knew the justification Derek would have. "I was just trying to help you understand why Derek is the way he is."

"Thank you."

"On another note, I'm really sorry for what I did to you that first week you were here. Sometimes, when I get mad, I do things without thinking through all of the consequences. I guess I felt threatened and so I attacked before you could hurt me." She held up her hand to stop me from arguing with her "Yes, now that I know you, I know you'd never purposely hurt me, but at the time I was just defending my territory. If it's ok with you, I'd like to start over." She stuck out her hand. "Hi, I'm Tori."

I smiled, I would like to start over with her. She didn't have to help me after that meeting, but she did. I think once she realized that I wasn't interested in taking her place in the company, or Liz's place with her that maybe I'd be ok. "I'm Chloe, nice to meet you."

I visited with Tori for another half hour. She'd read the partial script too, and really liked where it was going. She waved off Derek's threat and said he was full of bluster, but he knew a good thing when he saw it.

At ten fifteen I peeked in the gym. He was in there running. I snuck in the boy's shower room and waited.

Fifteen minutes later he came in. He already had his shirt off, but I wasn't going to let a set of abs distract me from my mission.

He jumped when he saw me. "Oh, hey Chloe. You, um, didn't come to work out at the regular time." he didn't quite meet my eyes, and rubbed at that spot below his breast bone distractedly.

I couldn't believe him. "Are you serious? After you did that to me during the meeting, you think I'm still going to come work out with you? You made me out to be a fool."

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "What? No. That's not what I meant. It was supposed to be my failing. Not that your writing wasn't good. Just that I couldn't see it."

"Right, and threatening to throw out the whole project really makes it seem like it's all you. You set me up, but this was never about me was it? It was about Simon. You needed a damsel in distress to help get him out of his funk over Liz. Let me guess. He started drawing right away when I came on, but then what - he slowed down? So you had to come up with a new way to prod him. Never mind who's expense it's at."

"Look, I'm sorry ok?" He sure didn't sound sorry, he sounded defensive "Simon's been moping ever since Liz left. Without his design talent, our company would never make it off the ground. Sure, Tori is a great programmer and I can make up the puzzles, but without Simon any game we designed would look as exciting as PacMan." He sighed, and then continued in a contrite tone.

"I just thought if I brought in someone new he'd realize there were other fish in the sea and forget about her. Simon's pretty charming, usually girls fall all over him all the time, but he's been avoiding meeting anyone."

"You thought I could be that girl."

"Well sure. When you came in I thought you were pretty and you had nice legs. It's as good of a start as any. And then as I got to know you, I realized you were funny and nice and smart. Who wouldn't want to be with you? The best was when you complemented his work. I couldn't have scripted it better myself."

"You- you- you asshole." I sputtered "You manipulative arrogant asshole. You think you can play God with everyone's life just to suit your own?"

"No. It was for Simon, not for me."

"Bullshit. You needed him to get off his ass and work. So you tried to set it up so he'd forget Liz." I wasn't going to let him see me cry, but I couldn't keep my voice from breaking when I said "I thought we were friends."

"We are."

"Obviously we're not."

There was a long silence then he asked "Will you finish the project?"

"I'm taking the rest of the day off. With pay. Maybe I'll come back on Monday." And I left.


	9. Chapter 9

Longest chapter yet. Woohoo. Almost there. One chapter left after this one . . (I think). . Now I just have to write it to know for sure.

I don't own Darkest Powers or any of the hotties therein.

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I went home and fought the urge to throw myself a pity party and have a good cry. I don't even know why I cared so much. I know everyone isn't always going to like me, but I wasn't expecting to be used like that by someone I'd considered a friend. The more I thought about it, the more I swung from sadness to anger. I wasn't going to let him get away with this. I called Simon and invited him over to strategize. He was the one that was really being manipulated. I thought it was only fair he knew what was going on.

Simon came over after work and brought Chinese takeout. We divided out the lo-main and then I told him what Derek had done. I saw a flash of anger in his eyes. "That asshole." Then he heaved a big sigh. "I'm mad, but I feel guilty that I'm mad. He was just trying to help."

"I think I know what you mean. Its really hard to be mad at him, when you know he's only doing it because he's concerned about you, and he just wants you to be happy again." I'd accused him of thinking of himself, but I knew him well enough to know that wasn't true. If he had to give up the whole business to make Simon happy, he would in a heartbeat.

"Its not like he's the type of guy to come up to you and try to give you advice on your love life, but if he can just put the pieces in front of you and hope you come up with the solution on your own…" He trailed off, deep in thought.

"So what do you want to do about it? Since this was mostly about you, it's your call."

Simon hesitated. "If it's ok with you, I'd like to give him what he wants. I think in the end he'll find he didn't really want it in the first place."

I was confused, "You mean you want to finish all the drawings by next Friday? Why wouldn't he be happy like that."

"Oh. He'll be happy with the drawings. I just think the way I go about it will leave a sour taste in his mouth." He thought some more "In order for this to work, he'll have to think that everything is going his way. Don't let on that I know his plan. Ok?"

"Sure." I thought of a snag "Do you think you can get it all done by the end of next week?"

"Heck yeah. I've been working on it at home too. I have most of the zombies done and a ton of ideas for the main characters and buildings."

"Well I plan on being at work the entire time you are. It's not fair that you would have to do this on your own."

"Yeah." he nodded. "That would be good. I think Derek needs to see us both there together as much as possible."

We kicked ass. We went in both Saturday and Sunday. Not surprisingly Derek stopped in twice while we were there. He was a workaholic himself, and often came in for a few hours on the weekend. I'm not actually sure he had anything else to do. He was surprised to see us on Saturday. Sunday he seemed flat out agitated.

He stopped by my desk when he saw that we were both there and said in a quiet voice "You don't need to do this you know. It's just Simon that I wanted to push."

I gave him a dirty glare. "Well I'm not going to let him suffer by himself."

On Monday Simon and I ended up staying overnight. Before she left for the day, Simon pulled Tori aside and must have told her what was going on. I was surprised when she stopped by my desk with a big grin on her face. "This plan is epic. I can't wait to see what he does." I still didn't get how Simon thought this was punishing Derek, but judging by the smile on her face, Tori must have agreed.

On Tuesday Derek stopped by my desk. He stood over me watching me work, rubbing that spot on his chest. I was still in my overnight lounging wear of yoga pants and a big tshirt. It was more causal than I'd ever been at the office. I'm sure he must have known we'd both pulled an all-nighter.

I was going to ignore him, but he just stood there. I caved under the pressure after three minutes. Trying to convey my exasperation with him in my voice I asked "Did you want something?"

He snapped out of his reverie and dropped his hand. " I, uh, stopped by Simon's desk this morning and told him the truth." He cleared his throat "I don't need to see those pictures right away. It's a good script and we're going to be going with it."

"That's good." I went back to work.

He stood there puzzled "So, uh, neither of you have to work so hard on it. We don't have a deadline or anything."

I didn't bother looking up "Alright."

He still stood there. I was tempted to snap something about taking a picture because it would last longer, but that seemed childish.

He watched me for what seemed like forever and then said "Right" and walked off.

We ended up staying overnight on Wednesday too. Tori joined us. Part of the night was working, and part of it was watching old zombie films for inspiration. Even Derek stayed. I can't tell if he did it because he thought he was missing out on the fun or because he felt guilty we were all staying. I know if I asked him he would claim he had some work that needed to get done before the morning.

Friday morning I found the tshirt I'd loaned Derek freshly washed and folded sitting on my desk. Under it was the jacket I'd worn the first day that got the grease on it. I shook it out looking for the stain, but couldn't find it anywhere. Was this a new jacket? It looked like my old one.

I went into Derek's office and held the jacket up accusingly. "Where did you get this?"

He glanced up at me and then quickly back down at his desk. "I, uh, found it in the garbage can in the lobby after your interview."

"How did you get it clean?"

He blushed. "I've always been really good at chemistry and I've gotten really good at getting grease stains out of things. Otherwise all of my clothes would have been ruined a long time ago."

What a strange thing for him to bring my jacket home and clean it. "Thank you."

"No big deal. It was my fault there was grease on it in the first place." I thanked him again and left. I was so surprised by the fact he admitted to doing something wrong, I didn't even think to ask why'd he'd taken it out of the garbage in the first place.

Friday afternoon at three o'clock Simon and I set the last of the drawings on Derek's desk.

He grunted. I think it was an appreciative grunt, but I'm not fluent in caveman. "These are good. Sit down and we'll start hashing out some of the finer details."

Simon spoke up "No can do. We're taking the afternoon off. Got to get ready for our big celebratory dinner."

Derek looked up "Where are we going?"

"You're not invited. It's private. You know" big dramatic pause and an exaggerated wink "a date."

Derek paled a little. "Oh… Does, uh, Tori know?"

"Yep. She's fine with it." Derek looked out his door towards Tori's office, as if he wanted her to come down like an avenging angel.

"Look bro, you got everything you asked for." Simon drew out the "everything" very sarcastically. As he turned on his heel and walked out the door, he threw over his shoulder "You must be thrilled it all turned out just like you wanted."

Derek muttered something under his breath. I don't think it was an expression of overwhelming joy.

I gave Derek a wan smile. "Have a good weekend," and I followed Simon out.

At home I showered and shaved my legs. Simon said we were going to go somewhere nice and to dress up. I had a great new halter dress that was dark blue and backless. The neckline plunged a little, but since I didn't have a lot on top, it didn't look slutty. I added a chunky silver bracelet and drop earrings to complete the look.

I was just putting on my heeled sandals when Simon rang the doorbell. I was surprised to see him in a suit. Open collar and no tie, but still, a far cry from the jeans and tshirts I was used to seeing him in. He looked really good.

He grinned broadly when he saw me and made a little spinning motion with his finger. I did a quick twirl, and he gave an appreciative wolf whistle.

"Right back atcha" I said.

As I was locking my door behind me Simon said "I have to swing by the office. I forgot my wallet."

"Oh, no problem."

When we got to work Simon went back to his office, and I swung by my desk just to see if anything interesting had happened after I'd left.

I didn't bother sitting down, but was leaning over my computer checking emails when I someone behind me cleared their throat.

I jumped and spun around. It was Derek. "Oh. Hi. I didn't realize you were still here."

"Yeah. I'm here most nights." Since Simon was his only friend, and he was out with me, I suppose Derek didn't have anything else to do. I almost asked him to join us, but bit my tongue when I remember how Simon said earlier he wasn't invited, that this was a date.

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say.

Simon came back to my desk and saw Derek standing there "Hey bro, didn't know you were still here." He watched Derek watching me "Doesn't Chloe look gorgeous?"

I didn't need Simon fishing for complements for me, and was going to make some smart remark before Derek snorted or ignored the question altogether, but Derek beat me to it. "Yes. She does," he said seriously.

Simon said "Well, we'll see you Monday." That sounded funny it made it seem like we were going to spend the whole weekend together. I was going to clear that up, but Simon rested his hand lightly at the small of my back, the top of his thumb brushing bare skin, and turned me towards the door.

We went out for dinner and had a good time. It was pretty late by the time we got back to my apartment, but I invited Simon in for a drink anyway. As I was grabbing glassed out of the cupboard I felt him come up behind me. I turned around and he was inches from me. He leaned in for a kiss. I didn't meet him halfway, but that didn't stop him. Our lips touched and I made an effort to kiss him back. After a few seconds he lifted his head.

"Nothing. You?" I shook my head "That's what I thought, but I would kick myself if I hadn't at least tried. It'd be so much easier."

We both said at the same time "There's someone else."

I laughed and sat down on the futon. "Tell me what happened with Liz."

"I don't know." Simon stared pacing around my small living room in frustration. "She was Tori's friend. Always there. I liked her growing up; she was fun to be around. My favorite friend of Tori's." He smiled wryly, "Actually, the only one I could stand. When we opened the company, she came on too, and we started working together. It was fun. We spent more and more time together without Tori, working on projects." He plopped down next to me on the couch.

"Then I did the comic book and I used her as a model. I didn't even think about it. It just came out. I didn't show it to any of them until the whole thing was finished. You already know Tori hated that I put her in it, Derek just grunted and Liz… well at first she seemed really excited, but after a month she basically stopped talking to me. I think she was mad at me, but I could never figure out exactly why. Then she up and left for Japan. It wasn't until she was gone I realized what she meant to me."

"After seeing how you drew her, it's pretty obvious to me that you love her."

He put his head back along the couch and closed his eyes as if in pain "Yeah."

"So why don't you go to Japan?"

He sat up abruptly "I've thought about it, but I don't know. She didn't really say anything to me about the book. What if she didn't like how I portrayed her? What if she thought I was some obsessed scary stalker and freaked her out?"

"You said she seemed excited when she first saw it. Maybe she saw what I saw, and she just got sick of waiting for you to realize what you felt. Why don't you ask Tori? She must know."

A big sigh. "Maybe."

He paused and looked at me expectantly "So… Derek?"

It was my turn to sigh "He hates me."

"I highly doubt it. I've never seen him this mixed up about anyone. I've known him for ten years. He doesn't date. He's never even seemed interested in anyone before. I'm not entirely convinced he realizes other people exist." he paused "I think what he hates is the way you made him feel. Not in control."

I couldn't help but be a little hopeful. "Tell me more."

"He was working so hard to make his life exactly the way he'd imagined it since he was sixteen. Own a successful company doing what he wanted to. Having people respect him as a business man. He didn't have time for anything or anyone else. Then you came along and knock him on his ass. Literally."

"He told you about that?"

"Yeah. Right after the interview. He's always been kind of a pill to people he doesn't know, but usually it's just ignoring them, or just not being fully engaged in the conversations. It's rare for him to be down right rude unless they made him mad. So I asked him.

"You showed guts when you did take the job even knowing you'd be working with him. You didn't let him intimidate you. And after that meeting, you proved you knew what you were talking about too. The necromancer twist on the game was a brilliant idea. After that day he helped you with Tori. I could sense the vibe changing, subtly at first, but then came the daily work outs. I think he just really doesn't know what to do. No ones made him feel like this before."

"He has a funny way of showing it. Why can't I just fall for the nice guy? Why would I be interested in the jerk?"

"He's not a jerk. Not really. Just matter of fact, and doesn't really know how to be around others all the time."

"He was sure a jerk last week."

"Yes, well, like I said. I think he just doesn't know what to do. I saw the way he was looking at you tonight. He was eating you with his eyes."

I laughed. "Really?"

"Really." He stood up and headed towards the door "And now I should go. You've given me a lot to think about."

"Thank you, Simon. For everything."

"Thank you." he gave me a soft kiss on my cheek. "Good luck." and he walked out the door.


	10. Chapter 10

**So I started writing and it turns out this _isn't_ the last chapter. Who knew! I'm guessing another one or two more. Not sure. I guess I shouldn't open my big mouth until after it's written. **

**Super excited to have passed 100 reviews with my last chapter. I feel as if I've reached a huge milestone. Thanks to all of you who reviewed!**

**btw. I think the title of this story is really lame. I couldn't think of anything better, and I still can't. Should I just leave it now? And if not, any suggestions?**

**I don't own, but I wouldn't mind getting Derek in my stocking.**

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I had the luxury of sleeping in Saturday morning. I had no place I had to be, and because of the frantic pace we'd worked the week before, I felt way ahead of the game on my storyline work. Though I still hadn't figured out why Simon and Tori thought it taught Derek a lesson.

I got up and puttered around. I made coffee and popped in a toaster strudel.

I decided today was the day I was going to color my hair. I'd picked some up dye earlier this week. I'd been thinking about it for awhile, but Derek's comments during the meeting solidified it for me. I needed to look older for people to take me seriously.

I didn't bother changing out of my pajamas. Well they weren't pajamas. It was the t-shirt I'd loaned Derek. I don't know what he washes clothes in, but it seemed softer than usual, and it smelled delicious. I lifted up one arm and sniffed it again, trying to decide what made this particular fragrance so enticing. I dropped it abruptly when I realized it smelled like Derek.

I was in the bathroom, and ready to lay the first strip of color along my head when someone started pounding on the door.

"Chloe." A familiar angry voice yelled through the door. Derek. "Chloe, god dammit, Chloe let me in."

_Not by the hair of my chinny chinny chin_ I thought to myself. I stuck my head out of the bathroom and said loudly enough to be heard through the door "No."

"Chloe, Simon stopped by my apartment today and said he's going to go to Japan. He said he didn't know when he'd be back. What did you do?"

I stiffened. I wanted to yell at him for acting as if this my fault, but in a way it was. I'd given Simon the confidence to go after the girl he really wanted.

"Did he say if he'd talked to Tori?" I asked conversationally.

"I'm not talking to you through this damn door. Open it right now." Him yelling at me in that big bass voice of his wasn't really making me want to have a face to face discussion with him.

"No. Not until you calm down."

"I am calm." He'd lowered his voice slightly, but it went right back to defcon five when he said "Open the fucking door."

"You're not mad at me. You're mad at yourself. You're freaked out because you think you're going to be alone."

"You're wrong Chloe, I am fucking mad at you, because it is your fucking fault. If you hadn't come to work for us this never would have happened." Yeah. I really wanted to open the door now. I snorted to myself, not going to happen, but I did want to give him a piece of my mind.

I stormed to the door. Before I made it there, I stepped on a magazine that had fallen off the coffee table and was lying on the floor. My legs flew out from underneath me. I windmilled my arms wildly trying to catch my balance, but instead knocked a glass vase off my end table. It crashed to the floor and so did I.

"Chloe? Chloe! Are you ok?" Derek yelled through the door "Answer me!"

But I couldn't. I'd landed flat on my back and knocked all the wind out of me.

I just needed a minute to catch my breath, but before I could I heard a huge crash and a sickening crack. My front door flew open. Derek came running in looking around wildly. He spotted me as I was trying to curl to my side to relieve the pressure on my lungs. "Chloe, what happened? There's glass everywhere. Shit. You're cut. We've got to stop the bleeding. Jesus Christ there's so much blood."

Blood? I didn't feel like I was bleeding. Maybe I was in shock. I tried to lift my head to peer down at myself, but I could only raise it an inch off the floor. That was enough. I was covered in red. My head, all over my arms, all down my legs. It looked like my throat had been cut and there was arterial spray everywhere. Did I hit glass from the vase on the way down? Was I in shock? I didn't feel anything except the awful pressure through my chest.

Derek swooped down and picked me up and took me to the bathroom. He sat me on the toilet and started looking everywhere for the wound. He kept asking me where it was, but I couldn't get my breath back enough to say anything. He searched my head, legs and arms. He pushed the t-shirt up my arms to inspect my shoulders and then lifted the bottom to look at my stomach. He got frustrated with all of the extra fabric and ended up just pulling my t-shirt off to inspect my torso with a muttered oath. I squeaked and clamped my hands over my minimal chest.

"Derek." I tried to choked out. Having seen no blood actually on my torso, he started scanning my limbs with his eyes and hands again. Muttering to himself about internal bleeding and peering up my nose and in my mouth.

I finally got a good lungful of air. "Derek!"

"What?" He was sifting through my hair again. I was talking to his belt buckle.

"Derek, stop. I'm ok. I just got the wind knocked out of me."

He took a step back to look at my face "But the blood…"

I shook my head "That's not blood. It's hair color. I slipped and fell. I'd been carrying a bottle full of hair dye. I must have squeezed it when I went down."

He looked more carefully at the liquid still covering my arms. He went so far as to smell it. "Oh." It was only then he seemed to realize I was topless. Not my finest moment. He turned bright red and jerked his face up. His eyes meet mine, and held them. I could see something in them and I felt my stomach do a little flip. I needed to get in control before anything happened. I felt at a distinct disadvantage sitting in my underwear on a toilet seat.

I broke eye contact and glanced at my arms. "Give me a minute to get rinsed off before the dye sets, otherwise I'm going to be permanently spotted. Wait for me in the living room."

He averted his eyes and grabbed a towel from the rack and wordlessly handed it to me. He shuffled out, still wearing a slightly stunned expression.

I took a quick shower, but didn't bother to dry my hair. I didn't have any clothes in the bathroom with me other than the big t-shirt that was covered in dye. I didn't want to put that back on or I'd just have to take another shower. I streaked through the living room in my towel and shut myself in my closet. I grabbed underwear and whipped on the first pair of jeans I found and a thin t-shirt. I didn't bother with a bra.

When I came back out into the living room, Derek was on the floor washing off the last of the dye. I saw a broom leaning against the wall next and a dustpan full of pieces of glass. There was a chair propped in front of the door, which hung somewhat cockeyed.

He looked up and saw me eyeing the door. "I'll go home and get my tools. I can fix it."

"You broke my door?"

He flushed again, and got up, picking up the dustpan and taking it over to the garbage. "I heard the crash and then you didn't answer me. I guess I kind of panicked." There was an awkward pause. The thought was nice, but I wasn't going to say thank you. I didn't really need help, and he broke my door.

He studied me for awhile, absently stroking that spot on his chest. I was almost startled when he spoke. "Why were you dying your hair?"

I instantly got angry again. I couldn't help but feel attacked. "Maybe I'm sick of people thinking I look like a pre-pubecent priss."

He flushed and looked away. "That wasn't about you."

"Really? That's odd, because you were looking at a picture of me when you said it."

He shook his head. "No. I was looking at a drawing of a necromancer."

"That was me and you know it."

He sighed. "Simon modeled her after you, but it wasn't really you. It was a caricature. He picks features and exaggerates them. You look young." He saw me open my mouth to protest, and held up his hand to cut me off. "You _know_ you look young. And when that was exaggerated, the necromancer looked _really_ really young."

Apparently I still didn't look convinced because he continued "Who plays video games? Who do you consider your target audience for gaming?"

"I don't know, teenage boys?"

"Right. And teenage boys want everything over the top. They want fast cars, big guns and lots of explosions. They want the men with huge muscles and the women with huge tits."

I couldn't help myself from blurting out "Is that what you want?"

"Do I look like a teenage boy to you?" he asked dryly. He eyed me up and down and I noticed that look in his eye again. It flashed for a minute and then was gone and his look hardened. "I don't want you to have to worry about stalkers."

"What?" I was getting confused.

"That's another reason why I asked Simon to change the hair color. You'd be surprised at how much that throws off the similarity from a character to a real person. Sometimes people get really into the games, and it's not totally unheard of for someone with mental instability to think things in the game are real. I don't want someone to notice the resemblance. People like that can do crazy things. You dying your hair black would spoil it; you'd be right back in the stalkers view. I wanted to pick a color as far as possible from your real color."

"I would never die my hair black. Do you know how awful that looks with my skin. I wouldn't look like the necromancer, I'd look like the zombie. I was going red."

"Oh."

I tried to think of something to say. "Must be almost lunch time."

Derek glanced down at his watch. "I guess. "

I went to get a loaf of bread from the cupboard. When I turned around Derek was right behind me. The look I saw in his eyes made me fumble the loaf. We both went for it at the same time and clonked each others heads. I stood up, clutching the loaf next to me.

"You're going to need new bread."

I glanced down at the squashed bread. "Oh yeah." I looked back up and met his eyes, he leaned towards me and then -

"What the hell happened to your door?

Simon pushed it open, shoving the chair out of his way. He gapped when he saw Derek and me standing together in the kitchen.

"Yeah. I should go get some stuff to fix that." He walked out through the door and then turned. "Chloe?" He scrambled for something else to add. I'd like to go with him, but I couldn't very well have no one in my apartment if I couldn't secure the door. He must have realized this "Do you need anything else from the store?"

"Um a loaf of bread?"

He laughed. "I'm on it. Simon, do you mind staying with her? I'd feel bad if anything else happened to her while I was gone."

Simon waited until he heard the door to the stair shut and then swung on me, "Seriously. What is going on?"

I laughed at his expression and explained the mixup. Glossing over Derek's fury when he first arrived and leaving out the part about being stripped searched in the bathroom.

"So he broke down a door to save you." He looked thoughtful "Doesn't sound like a guy that hates you very much. What was he even doing here?"

"Actually he came to see me about you, said you were going to Japan." I smiled at the last part. "Tell me everything."

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**All I want for Christmas is a bunch of reviews. Please, oh please? I've been a very good girl this year. -Heather.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Goodness. I am sooooooooooo sorry. I've been kicking myself for the last month wondering why I didn't just end it with the last chapter. I was stuck I knew what I wanted to happen, but I just couldn't get it out there. Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews. I feel like such a heel. I get really nice reviews and then it takes me three weeks to get the next chapter done. bad bad heather, should have gotten coal in her stocking instead. A special thanks to Lauren94 for caring enough to try to help me out of my rut with her pm. So nice of you.**

**But now I'm back, and I PROMISE you won't have to wait as long for the next chapter. **

**Still don't own any of these cuties.**

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Simon told me all about his epiphany and how he'd talked to Tori, who'd confirmed my suspicions that Liz was flattered by Simon's drawings, but felt she'd had her life on hold waiting for his move. Liz didn't want to be the girl sitting by the phone waiting for the boy to call. I was kind of surprised that she didn't ask him out, but Simon said Tori explained it was his habit of going through girls quickly that made her not want to try. If Liz was too available, what was to keep him from losing interest after a week? He had to work for it so she'd know he was really interested.

When Derek got back he was reserved again, had withdrawn back into his shell. He fixed my door, apologized again and left. I was confused. Before Simon came, I thought something was going to happen. We were so close to…something…

The next week at work Derek went back to treating me like he did that first week. I tried going to the gym at our regular time, but he wasn't there. I went so far as to stop by his office one day to ask him to join me. He wouldn't meet my eyes and gave me a half-hearted excuse about being too busy.

I felt confused, rejected and depressed. On Wednesday Simon stopped by my cube and asked me to join him in his office.

"What's up?" I queried.

"Nothing really, I just noticed how down you seem, and how quiet it is around the office. How's it going with Derek?"

"Fine."

"Have you ever noticed, unless you're casually asking how they're doing, most of the time when people say 'fine', it's really not."

"He's ignoring me. He stopped coming to the gym. He only asks me about work. I guess he's really just not interested."

"I don't believe that for a second." Simon paused "Are you still interested?"

"Yes." There was no sense rehashing this all, Derek had made his decision. I changed the subject. "When do you leave?"

"Sunday."

"Did you tell her you were coming?"

"No. I didn't want to give her the chance of telling me not to come. Tori's helping me though. She talked to Liz and said she was thinking about a visit sometime soon. She got detailed instructions on how to get to her place from the airport. Liz said she didn't have any plans for the weekend, so here's hoping that something doesn't pop up."

"You're just going to show up on her doorstep?"

"Yeah, but I made reservations at a hotel not too far away. I'm not sure of my reception. My ticket is round trip leaving the following Friday. I figure I'll know by then if I've got a chance or not. If I do," he grinned "I just won't catch that flight."

Simon rubbed his hands together "Now back to you and Derek. I've only got five days to get this done."

"There is no me and Derek." Simon ignored that.

"You know how I said that Derek wasn't the type to tell you how to live your live, but give you clues to get the hint?" When I nodded he continued. "Derek's the opposite. He won't get the hints. You have to spell it out for him. I'd try to talk to him, but this one is going to have to come from you. He won't believe me if I say you're interested. He'll think I'm just trying to make him feel good. But it's hard to tell someone how you feel when they're ignoring you.

"Considering the success of my last master plan involving Derek, I've got an idea to get you to spending time together again. I've asked Tori to help me with this one. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be sticking my nose in if you didn't care anymore."

How fickle did he think I was? "I never did get what your last master plan was. Derek did seem disappointed when he got the stuff, but it was what he wanted."

"Kind of. He wanted me to do the work, but he was definitely jealous of our time together."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

"Ok. What do you need me to do?"

"Don't worry about it. Derek will come to you. You just be yourself."

Simon was right. Later that day Derek came over to my cube. He wouldn't meet my eyes as he mumbled a request to me.

"What was that?"

A big gusty sigh. "I need your help. You know I've been working on a big project, right?"

"You mean that one that I broke in the lobby?"

That got me a quick grin. "That wasn't your fault. I'm sorry. I was just frustrated and running late and I took it out on you." He seemed to remember he was supposed to be distancing himself from me and the smile dropped. "Anyway. It's a motion capture system. We were going to use it for the necromancer game, but Tori can't seem to get the software to work with the hardware right. It should have been simple for me to put on the sensors, and do the moves and it would translate down to the necromancer, but she says that the size differential is too great. The moves aren't translating when it gets to someone the necromancers size. I need someone little to do them. Tori won't."

Ah. This must be the new master plan to make him spend time with me. I bet Tori did something to the system so that the moves wouldn't translate. "Sure I can help. Right now?"

"Yeah, if you're, uh, free. Can you change into workout clothes and I'll meet you in the gym?"

I went and put on some lycra shorts and a sports bra and covered them up with a tshirt. When I got to the gym, I found Derek waiting for me in the open area with a laptop and a bunch of small white disks. He'd changed into gym clothes too. A pair of soccer shorts and a tank top that showed off his impressive biceps.

"Hey. Ok." He seemed really nervous. "Um. I need to attach these to you." He held up a bunch of the disks- they must be sensors. "And, uh, can you take off the t-shirt? It will interfere with the readings."

I tried to portray a confidence I didn't feel. "Sure. It's not like you haven't seen it before."

He blushed and looked away. I pulled the shirt off, and went to stand right next to him. He pealed of the protective backing on the first sensor and took my right hand. "It's, um, sticky." He placed the first sensor, and then put one on my right elbow and right shoulder. "They need to be placed on all of your joints to really read the movement." He finished with my arms and made me put on a ridiculous looking headband that put one at the top of my head. He got down on both knees in front of me and took off my shoes. He placed a sensor on both ankles and then worked his way up to my knees. When he got to my hips, he paused eyeing my pelvis. "I can try to stick them on the shorts, but I don't think they'll stay."

"Would my hip bones be close enough?"

"I think so."

"Then put them there." He still had to roll the top of my shorts down to expose my hipbones. He did it tentatively, as if to say _Is this okay?_ It was. I could feel his breath hot on my skin as he leaned in close. His fingers brushing me lightly. My face grew hot, not with embarrassment, but desire. I prayed he'd close those last two inches and kiss what he'd been touching.

No such luck. He placed the sensors, pressing his thumbs tightly against them to make sure they'd stay. He'd wrapped his hands around my hips, his fingers splayed against my ass to get the counter pressure he needed. His thumbs seemed to linger a bit longer than they had to caressing small circles around the very edge of the sensor as if making sure the seal was complete. I hadn't imagined that look in my kitchen, he was interested. He was just fighting it for all he was worth.

Abruptly he stood up. "Do you know any martial arts moves at all?"

"I took a couple of self defense classes in college."

"That will have to do."

We worked for about an hour starting just with what I knew off the top of my head, and then Derek showing me flashing variations, that probably wouldn't do much good in an actual fight, but would look good on the game.

Derek gave me a look of approval after a particularly tricky spin move. "You're better at this than I thought you were going to be."

I smiled at the backhanded complement. "It's the gymnastics. Gives you great power moves like that. And yoga really helps with flexibility for the kicks."

"You were in gymnastics?"

"For years."

"Do you think you could do some of those tricks? I'm not positive we would use all of them, but I bet they would look great." he glanced at his watch. "Shit. It's eight o'clock, I had no idea it was so late. Can I buy you dinner quick and then maybe we could come back? I'd love to see how a flip translates to this system."

"Sure, but I don't want to have to change. Can we just go to Subway or something? Then I can just throw my t-shirt back on."

"You can tell me what you want and I'll just pick it up."

There was no way I was letting him out of my sight after what happened last time. We were making progress, and I wasn't going to let him clam up again.

"No, that's ok, I need some fresh air."

As we made our way through the office I was surprised to see Tori still there.

"Hey guys, what are you still doing here?"

Derek gave her a pointed look "Working on correcting your issue."

I could tell she was pissed that the plan was making her look bad, but she was obviously stubborn and was going to stick to the plan to the end. "Where are you headed?"

"Derek's buying me dinner." Her eyebrows shot up as she took in my outfit. "Subway. We'll be right back."

As we turned to leave, she stopped us again. "Hey Derek, can I see your cell phone. I've got some new security measures I want to install. I'm headed out so I'll leave it on your desk."

He seemed surprised, but handed it over without another word. I thought I saw a twinkle in her eye, but before I could ask her what she had going on tonight that got her so excited, she turned and was gone.

We got our food to go, anxious to get back to our project. We talked about how we could incorporate some gymnastics moves into the game, a flip when jumping a big distance. A diving summersault to get underneath shutting garage doors. But our discussion came to an a abrupt halt as the elevator shuddered to a stop halfway between floors ten and eleven.

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**oooooo I love me some good trapped-in-an-elevator business. Those and hiding-from-danger-with-a-hottie-in-a-closet. yum. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Look at me, Speedy McGee. Thanks for all your positive reviews, it's great to know there are so many elevator fans out there. . . .Now, who's going to be in charge of writing one with a closet scene?**

**Did you see that KA is going to be doing a short story of Tori finding out her parentage? Very excited for this fall!**

**I may be Speedy McGee, but I'm not Kelley Armstrong.**

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The lights and music stayed on, but the elevator itself was stuck. Derek started hitting random floor buttons to see if that would do anything. There were no results. He looked at me and started patting the pockets of the light hoodie he'd donned before we went out. It was a warm night, but his workout clothes didn't have any pockets. He'd just stuffed his wallet into one pocket and his cell phone into the other.

"Here, I'll just call someone- shit. Tori's got my phone." He looked at me skeptically, "You don't happen to have yours do you."

I held my arms out to the side in a what you see is what you get kind of gesture. "I didn't grab anything. You said you were buying so I didn't need any cash. No purse." I looked around and spotted a tiny door marked emergency. I pointed to it. "There."

Derek opened it with a sigh of relief. It was just a keypad with a speaker next to it. On the inside of a door was a sign with phone numbers. Derek hit the call button, but there wasn't any dial tone. He tried entering the numbers first, and then hitting call. Still nothing.

"It must be broken. I suppose they expect everyone to carry cell phones now." He sounded frustrated.

I glanced around me at the small space. I was okay riding in elevators for short amounts of time, but I didn't want to dwell on where we were. Claustrophobia was already beginning to set in. "So what are we going to do?"

"Let me try the door." He pulled at the two metal sides and got them separated about two inches. He pressed his face up against the gap. "It's empty and dark. Everyone must have gone home for the night."

"Where's the floor?"

"About chest level."

"Can you keep it open so I can look on tenth?"

"Sure, but hurry, I can't hold it much longer."

Derek had smashed himself right up against the doors to get enough leverage to open them. I either had to spread his legs and crawl between them, or wedge myself between him and the doors. His legs were slightly spread, so I went with that. I got down on my knees right behind him, tucked my shoulders up against his knees, and poked my head through. The bottom of his nylon shorts tickled my neck as I pressed one eye to the opening. Dark and empty. I sat up abruptly in frustration, and barely missed conking him in a very sensitive area. His hands flew up in surprise and the doors slammed shut. With me between his legs, he didn't have any good way to step back.

"Ack, sorry." I glanced up at him looking down at me.

"That's okay." He lifted one leg and stepped carefully back from me. He looked like a mime playing a cowboy getting off a horse. "No luck?"

"Nope. Dark and empty."

I looked around at the enclosed space, I could feel my blood pressure rising.

Derek sat down and grabbed a sandwich. "Might as well get comfortable. It might be all night before they realize anything's wrong. There's four elevators in this bank, so no one's going to notice if one of them doesn't work."

"H-h-h-how can you t-t-t-think of eating at a t-t-time like this?" I could hear my voice rising in panic. "Isn't there s-s-s-s-supposed to be some sort of h-h-h-hatch to get out?" I pointed at the ceiling.

Derek looked at me in surprise. "You think one of us should go out into an elevator shaft? Contrary to popular belief, I'm not some sort of werewolf superhero. Calm down. We'll just get out in the morning."

I leaned over (I didn't have to lean far) and poked him in the chest. "Y-y-y-you calm d-d-d-down!" That didn't even make any sense. I knew I was overreacting but I couldn't help it. Derek grabbed my hand to stop the poking and that's when I snapped. I swung my arms wildly trying to escape. I felt my fingernails catch something, but it barely registered. I lost track for a little bit there during my freak out. The next thing I knew Derek was on top of me. His face the only thing I could see.

"Chloe… Chloe. I need you to do something for me." I started coming back to myself. Derek had me on the floor of the elevator. His arms were wrapped around me in a bear hug, his hips pinned mine. His legs were so long, his knees were extended well out on either side of mine, but he'd brought his feet back in so his shins held my ankles immobile.

"Take deep breaths. Concentrate on me." I did as he asked, studying the green eyes so close to my own. When it seemed like I was under control, he loosened his tight grip on me, but he didn't let me go entirely.

"What the hell was that?"

"I-I-I'm c-c-c-claustrophobic."

"I see." He brought one arm from around me and fingered the long scratches down the side of his face. I had done that to him.

I was embarrassed. "I'm sorry. It's never been this bad before. Obviously I don't usually have problems riding in elevators. I think it's the idea that we could be t-t-t-trapped h-h-here-"

"Slow down."

I took another deep breath to calm myself and tried again. "Trapped here until morning. Logically I know nothings going to happen. There's nothing to be afraid of, but every time I-I-I think about it . . ." I trailed off.

Derek looked thoughtful. "Hun. I guess the best thing we can do is keep your mind off of it then." His beautiful green eyes stared down at me, for the briefest moment I thougth he might lean down to kiss me. Then he blinked and the spell was broken. "Tell me about the most amazing place you've ever been."

I was disorientated. His method of distraction is not the one I would have chosen. I wasn't sure I could formulate an answer when I was pressed so close to him. "Are you going to hold on to me all night?"

"If I need to."

What I needed was to stop thinking about him kissing me if it wasn't going to happen. "I think I'm alright now."

Derek slowly let me up, keeping a sharp eye on me. "You'll let me know if it starts happening again."

"Yes, I promise. Go ahead and eat. I can hear your stomach growling from here."

"Only if you will too."

I really wasn't hungry, but I could handle a few bites "Sure."

He handed me my sandwich. As I unwrapped it I pondered aloud "Let's see, most amazing place I've ever been…"

We'd been in the elevator for about five hours, visiting, learning more about one another. I'd felt panic rise within me two other times, but Derek watched me closely. As soon as he noticed I was acting slightly distracted, he grabbed my hand, and made me look him in the eye. This did calm me and we went back to talking like nothing had happened.

Derek looked at his watch. "It's two in the morning. Why don't we get some sleep. It's obvious no one is going to come tonight."

Derek laid down crosswise in the elevator. He still didn't quite fit. He had to have his knees up. He taken off his sweatshirt and balled it up to use as a pillow. He noticed me looking hesitantly at the spaces next to him. He patted high on his chest. "Come here. I don't bite."

_But what if I want you to bite?_ I hesitated.

"This was a lot easier when you were drunk. Then it was just trying to keep you off of me that was hard." I knew he was just teasing me, best to fight fire with fire.

I sniffed disdainfully, "A gentleman would never bring that up."

He laughed "That's one think I don't think I've every had to worry about someone calling me." I rolled my eyes at his comment and laid down next to him.

He started humming softly under his breath. I met his eyes and lifted mine in question.

"Sorry, I've got this dumb song stuck in my head. I don't know why."

I pointed up at the ceiling. "Musak. I'm pretty sure that's the sixth or seventh time I've heard Daydream Believer tonight. They must have a pretty short loop of music that they keep repeating. I suppose no one really expects to be in an elevator long enough to even hear even one full song."

Derek had his right hand resting on his stomach, his thumb softly stroking that spot just below his breast bone. He nodded off first, his breathing getting deeper and his thumb stilling. When I was sure he was asleep, I slipped my hand underneath his, and gave the spot a tender caress. Then I drifted off too.

I woke up the next morning trying to figure out how to bring up the topic of us. I chickened out doing it the night before. How uncomfortable would that be if he said he really wasn't interested, and then was stuck with me in a five foot by six foot space for the next eight hours? Uncomfortable and humiliating.

But Simon was right, he needed to be confronted about it, or he'd go on acting like there was nothing there. Like this night had never happened. Like we hadn't even become friends. What to say? I didn't know where to start.

I was still lying with my head on his chest. His shirt had ridden up slightly during the night and I took the opportunity to slip my hand underneath it. His skin was silky and warm.

I made my way up to the apex of his ribs, to caress his spot, and then it struck me. This is where I had licked him.

I jerked my head up to his face and found him giving me a look that was half excited and half wary.

"What do you think you're doing?" His voice was barely a whisper.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Aha! I didn't have to say anything, I could just show him how I feel. I stretched my body up to kiss him-

"Don't."

I froze. Had I misread everything? "Excuse me?"

"I'm not worth it." He gently pushed me off of him and sat up. "This can't go anywhere. I'm not anything. I grew up a piece of shit and I'll stay a piece of shit. You're worth so much more."

I sat up too. This was it. This is why he kept me at arms length. "How can you say that about yourself? Look at all you've done. You put yourself through school. You started this company."

He gave a humorless laugh. "You've been talking to Tori haven't you? Neither of those things were that big of a deal. Good grades came easy to me. And if you work at anything a hundred plus hours a week, you should be able to make it succeed."

"But why go to all the effort if you didn't think it was going to make you a better person?"

He studied a corner of the elevator. He wouldn't meet my eyes. Finally he sighed, "It wasn't for me. It was for Kit."

"You put yourself through all of that for Kit?"

"You don't understand. He saved me. I may never be anything much myself, but he saved me from destroying others. What if he hadn't gotten me off with just time served in juvie? What if he hadn't shown me destruction isn't the only way to survive? I was on a pretty fast downward spiral. I would have taken others down with me. How could I repay him? He'd never take money. But I knew if I did something with my life, he'd be happy."

"I'm sure he'd be happy whatever you did. Isn't this company overkill if that's all you wanted?"

"Simon." He said, as if it explained it all. When he saw my confused look, he shrugged "What else was he going to do? Not many people can survive drawing comic books their entire lives."

"So this isn't what you wanted at all? It was just something to help Simon, to" I searched for the right word "_repay_ Kit?"

He didn't say anything, but looked at me with those sad sad eyes. "What about you, Derek? When do you get something for you?"

He opened his mouth and shut it again. I knew he was thinking again of what he thought he didn't deserve.

"You might not think you're worth it, but I do. I absolutely do." And I pulled him to me and kissed him.

All of a sudden the elevator door popped open. Derek and I jumped away from each other. Simon was on the eleventh floor, crouching down to look at us. "Hey. The elevator repair guy has almost got it, but you can climb out here if you're sick of waiting."

Part of me was tempted to stay - to close the doors again on the rest of the world and have it be just me and Derek forever. But the other part of me really had to pee.

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**Okay. Pretty sure the last chapter will be up by next Monday. That's my goal. R&R**


	13. Chapter 13

**Olay I said by Monday and I had it by end of day. So I think that's pretty good. Thanks to all of the reviewers on this story. Reviews always make me want to try harder and do more.**

**I don't own any of these characters. They're all Kelley Armstrong.**

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Tori was standing next to Simon. As we crawled out she looked us up and down, taking in the mussed hair the slightly swollen lips. "While you two were getting it on in the elevator, I took a look at your laptop Derek. You had the old version on the motion capture program on it. What I designed works just fine. You should look more closely at the dates on things."

I opened my mouth to protest her assumption about what we'd been doing in the elevator, but she'd already turned and walked away.

Simon also looked pretty smirky. "Just get out of public spaces and you can do whatever you want."

"We weren't-" I began and then gave up. He'd believe what he wanted. I tried to ignore his knowing look, but I'm sure I still turned bright red.

He turned to his partner for more ribbing. "Derek, maybe this is the first girl who ever said 'I like you' but that doesn't mean you can do the nasty where ever you want. Though I have to say, I don't think you can do better than Chloe."

Derek just grunted in response. He put his hand on my lower back and led me to the stair. We walked up the last flight. As we stepped out onto the floor, he noticed my discomfort and asked me what was wrong.

"Everyone thinks we had sex in the elevator. I know even if I told them what happened, they'd just think I was covering up."

"Chloe, Simon and Tori do not constitute "everybody." I'm pretty confident that they know us well enough to know that nothing happened. Well nothing major. They don't often get to rib me so they're going to milk it for all it's worth. If we'd spent the night reburying zombie corpses, and were covered in grave dirt, they'd accuse us of getting it on in a cemetery."

I turned to him, concern clear in my voice. "Derek, can we talk about what did happen last night."

His face became an emotionless mask. "I can't right now." He glanced around like a caged animal. "I have to go. I'm sorry" and he turned and left.

I didn't see him for the rest of the day. I tried calling his cell, but there was no answer.

I asked Simon about it and he just said to give him space, that eventually Derek would come around.

That wasn't enough for me. In desperation I went to Tori. "Do you know if Derek's coming back? Is he okay?"

"He's not coming back today. He just called Simon and me to meet him at his place tonight."

He did have his phone. I was half hoping he'd left it on Tori's desk and that he wasn't just avoiding my calls. I tried to smile causally. "Can I come?"

"Sorry. This one's a family affair."

I sighed in defeat, and my shoulders slumped. "Listen, it's been kind of a long day. Do you mind if I go home?"

"Go ahead. See you tomorrow."

I went home and stewed about what I should have done different. Somehow I'd pushed him even farther away. Had I gone too far? Too fast? I ate a pint of Cherry Garcia and went to bed.

The next morning I dressed carefully and I took my time with my makeup. I was worried that today was going to be my last day with Design Sorcery, and I wanted to leave a lasting impression.

Walking in the door, I couldn't help notice the current that was running around the office. Something was going on. As I walked to my desk, Simon hailed me from across the room.

"Chloe, we've got a staff meeting in five minutes. Be there or be square." And he shot me a smile.

What was going on? My stomach lurched was this the last time I was going to see Derek? I couldn't let them know how close I was to tears. I numbly put down my lunch and my purse. I grabbed a notebook, schooled my face into a mask of indifference and started to the meeting room.

I was walking by an empty office when a hand reached out and grabbed my wrist. I gave a small shriek. So much for my nonchalant attitude.

I turned and was surprised to see Derek. He looked a little worn around the edges like he hadn't had much sleep, and he obviously didn't shave this morning.

For a second I saw something in his eyes. Something that rewoke the hope in me that there could be more to this. "Chloe, I-" He paused as if trying to figure out what to say next, then a tentative touch to my waist and his head started to lower -

"Ewwwww I don't need to see you two making out." This time it was Tori. Lousy timing must run in the family. "Come on, Derek. Let's go. They're waiting for us."

Derek looked at me and said "I need to talk to you after the meeting."

I went into the meeting room and sat down at the table. I was surprised to see Simon, Derek and Tori all remain standing at the front of the room. This was much more formal than they usually were.

Simon cleared his throat clearly nervous, "Hey guys… uh… you know the last couple of years working with you all have been great. You're like a family to me, well to all of us."

Was this about Simon going to Japan? The whole staff must already know he's going. Why make such a production out of it?

"But sometimes we need to make changes for ourselves." That was from Tori. Was she leaving too?

"We sold the company and all of the rights." Leave it to Derek to become annoyed at the sentiment and get to the point.

Simon jumped in "Don't worry, you all still have jobs. The deal we've arranged with the purchaser is to continue business as usual until all current projects are wrapped up. Which you know can take years. At that point you have the option of staying on with the new company or taking a generous severance package. The job is yours as long as you want it. It's up to you." A brilliant grin "That was also a part of the negotiations."

I was stunned. Not so much about whether or not I'd have a job, but the fact that they'd sold the company. The meeting went on for a while longer, with people asking questions about who'd bought the company and when things were going to be happening, but I wasn't paying attention anymore. I was trying to go through the implications of this in my head.

Why had they done this? Was it Derek's decision? Were Simon and Tori okay with it?

Even after the meeting broke up, there were a million questions around the office. People were moving from desk to desk talking about what they thought was going to happen, what the new bosses would be like. I think I was the only one actually working. I didn't want to talk about this with my co-workers, I wanted to talk about it with Derek.

Derek must have been doing some talking and organizing of his own, probably was working over contracts and calling the one person who wasn't in today. It was over two hours later that he finally came to my desk.

"Hey." I'd been staring at my screen not really having comprehended anything for a long time. Just needing some where to look. I jumped a little bit and then gave him a "Hey" back.

"Uh. I don't really feel right talking here. Not even in my office. Do you mind if we go somewhere for lunch?"

"Lunch would be good." I shut down my pc, grabbed my purse and followed him out of the building. Summer was waning but it was one of those perfect seventy degree days out.

We went about a block into a non-descript building. If there was a restaurant in here, it must be very high end. They obviously didn't feel the need to advertise. I didn't see any signage.

Derek brought me to the stairwell and I followed him up to third floor. I knew we weren't going to a restaurant; we must be going to his place. I thought I lived close. He led me down the hall to apartment 3E and unlocked the door. He opened it for me and gestured me inside.

"I'm sorry, I should have asked first. Is this okay?"

"Yeah. It's good." I wanted to know more about him, and his apartment was a good start.

"I didn't really feel like being in public at all. I can make us lunch."

It wasn't your typical bachelor's pad. No black leather and chrome or super modern and filled with things from Sharper Image. He was surrounded by practical things. His furniture was obviously new, but still comfortable looking. A big overstuff couch and chair, end tables a coffee table and even matching lamps. He saw me looking closely at the things around him. "As soon as we started making money, I got this place and the furniture. I'd never really had a home before."

I'd never seen a single man's place look so homey. Surprising touches here and there from the ever practical Derek. He had a turned wood bowl of fruit on the counter, and a couple of stylized wolf statues on an end table. There was framed art in the living room that looked original, but the dining room he'd filled with pictures. He had pictures of Simon and an older Asian man I assumed to be Kit. There was another one of Derek, Simon, Tori and Liz together all toasting the camera with glasses of champagne around the Design Sorcery sign. It must have been opening day. One of Kit grinning broadly with his arm around a graduation gown clad Derek. A shot of Derek and Simon on either side of a campfire holding marshmallows. I was surprised to even see one of just Tori making a funny face and flicking off the camera. There was one in the group that wasn't a picture at all, but a drawing. Simon's necromancer had her arms wrapped around the big black wolf from the graphic novel. My eyes stopped on that one and lingered.

Derek flushed and cleared his throat. "Simon gave me that one last week. I framed it and put it up. It was the closest thing I had to a picture of you."

"We'll have to remedy that, won't we." I said distractedly. I was on his family wall. That had to mean something. Didn't it?

"Are you okay with sandwiches for lunch?"

"Sure." I expected peanut butter and jelly. Instead I saw him haul out a hunk of meat.

"What is that?"

"Roast beef? Is that okay? I had Sunday dinner here last weekend, and there were leftovers. I always make too much."

"You made roast beef?"

"Yeah. I like to cook." He proceeded to slice the beef very thin, got out some cucumbers and onion and sliced them thin too. He layered it on fresh bakery bread with a spread he made of horseradish and blue cheese. "Salad?"

"Yes, please."

He got a salad spinner out from the fridge and took out a couple of handfuls of mixed greens, sliced a pear and added blue cheese. Then he got out some balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and dressed the salad. They whole thing barely took him five minutes, and it was a gourmet style meal. Give me five minutes I'd give you burnt toast.

I took one bite and I was in heaven. "Oh, man. This is so good. If this is what you can do with sandwiches, you'll have to cook for me sometime."

"I'd like that." I looked up at him in surprise. Time to get down to business.

"You've been busy the last twenty-four hours." It sounded more accusatory than I meant it too. I just felt bad he hadn't included me in any of his planning.

"The first few hours were just me trying to figure out what to do. Then I made some calls. We've been approached several times in the last year with buyout offers. It was just a couple of calls to find someone who'd meet our asking price."

"So what's next?"

"I'm going back to school. I've enrolled for this fall at the U. I'm going to get my masters in physics, and then go on for my PhD. I could teach, or work for NASA. I don't really know what I want to do with it for sure. I just know it's what I like to do."

"What are you going to do for a job while you're in school?"

"Actually, I think with the sale of the company, I'll be able just to concentrate on my studies." A pause and a sheepish grin. I had a flash of déjà vu and that terrible interview we'd done. "That's bull. I know I don't have to work. To tell the truth, it would take some pretty fancy cars and extravagant living to blow my share from the sale. I don't know that I'd actually ever have to work again."

"You're finally doing something for yourself."

He nodded.

"Can I ask what brought on this change of heart?"

"I thought it would be obvious."

Maybe, but I wanted to hear him say it anyway. I raised my eyebrows.

"You. You did, Chloe. You were right."

"Hrm. I think we should start keeping a scorecard. Who's right more often: me or you." Derek snorted "You'd hate it if I won though. Just to clarify, what exactly was I right about this time?"

"Doing things because you think it's what's best for others isn't always the best reason to do them. Turns out both Simon and Tori were only staying in the business because of me. They'd liked the offers that came in, but didn't want me to feel I'd failed by selling to someone and not being the owners anymore."

"So you were all just hanging on for the each other and none of you wanted it anyway. Sounds like something families do."

"Yeah. I guess." He laughed. "I called them over yesterday to ask what they thought about it. Tori's first words were 'It's about time.' I talked to Kit yesterday too. He doesn't care how successful I am. He just wants me to be happy."

"From what you've told me about him, that sounds about right."

"So that's my new goal. I'm going to try to be happy."

"To repay Kit?"

"Yes. Well that and I think it's time. I can't let the past eat at me anymore, or it will win."

"And to make yourself happy, you're going back to school to do something you like to do."

"No. . . well yes, that's part of it. But I was thinking about something a little more personal." He took a deep breath "I'm not a piece of shit so I need to stop acting like one and tell you how I feel. Chloe, you make me happy. Being around you makes me feel like I am a better person. I don't want anything from you that you're not willing to give, but if you're still interested…." He looked at me with a puppy dog expression. Like one whose has been kicked too many times not to expect it.

"I am. Interested that is. I am very interested."

A brilliant smile lit his face. "Good."

With that he pulled me into his lap. He bent his head to kiss me, but just before he did he pulled back.

"What?"

"Give me your phone." I pulled it from my pocket and handed it to him. He flipped it open and turned it off. Then he opened his own and did the same thing.

"We're not going to be interrupted again." Then he kissed me. And it was everything I was hoping it would be.

* * *

**And that's the end. :) I have a maybe thought for a one shot for this, but I'm not sure. It'd be a Tori & Simon one. (One that features both of them, not one of them getting together. Ewwwww) R&R -Heather.**


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